Jurgen Klopp didn’t waste time in banishing Mamadou Sakho from his Liverpool squad in the summer of 2016, with the Frenchman now making his thoughts clear on his former boss
Mamadou Sakho refused to discuss the details that led to Jurgen Klopp banishing him from Liverpool – but admitted has no negative feelings towards his former boss. The ex-France international was brought to Anfield by Brendan Rodgers in 2013 in an £18million deal where he played a role in the Reds’ surprise title challenge that saw them finish second to Manchester City.
While injuries consistently kept Sakho out for a prolonged period starting for the club, he remained an important member of the squad when fit. The 35-year-old displayed several impressive performances under Klopp, who was appointed as Rodgers’ successor in October 2015.
Having signed a new long-term deal a month before the German’s arrival, Sakho’s future at Liverpool looked bright, at least up until the following summer. During the Reds’ pre-season tour of the United States, the defender was sent home by Klopp.
Fans would later find out the reasons behind Klopp’s cut-throat decision was due to Sakho having been late for the club’s flight, a team meal and a treatment session as he recovered from injury. The former PSG captain was demoted to train with the Under-23’s and would never again play for Liverpool.
Sakho spent the next six months of his career in the Professional Development League before securing a loan move to Crystal Palace on deadline day in January 2017. Almost 10 years on from his acrimonious exit from the Premier League giants, he’s opened up about his time playing under Klopp and what he truly thinks of the German.
“Good relationship because I’m not a negative man,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Echo. “I always respect. I like his type of football. But football is football. So a few moments, you need to make some decisions and that’s it. It’s football. And I think you can see many examples.
“Sometimes the fans, they don’t understand why this player leaves when this player is here. Also, sometimes you have some players where they ask, ‘Why are they here?’ But as I said, it’s football. It’s not my point. It’s just football. Sometimes few things happen inside. I cannot talk about it, but it’s like this. It’s football.
“Small things are always good to take as an excuse. But the reality wasn’t this. But it’s fine, you know? But seriously, because a player is late to eat, the time’s 7.15 and he comes at 7.18, now he leaves the club? Come on. What I wrote (on Snapchat) was the truth. But the truth always takes the stairs and the lie takes the elevator.
“You have football that people see, and you have few things inside but they cannot talk about it. So I always keep it for me as a man and that’s it. I never talk and I would not speak for the moment because it’s not important. I really enjoy my time in Liverpool.
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“Yeah, it was a really great moment for me in my career. And that’s it. I told you, I’m a positive man. So I don’t like to speak about the inside of football, you know? I will speak about it one day, of course. Of course, one day I will speak.
“But not now, it is not the right moment. When I do my documentary of my career and of my life, all the truth will go out in that moment, just for fun.” Now playing for Georgian top-flight club Torpedo Kutaisi, Sakho has also turned his attention to the world of property as he opened a firm in Dubai where he’ll sell luxury houses in the Middle East.
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