Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Jurgen Klopp seems to be putting the finishing touches to what is now definitely his Liverpool squad after now just under a year in charge at Anfield. It doesn’t look like there will be anyone else coming to Merseyside but we could see one very big departure, but whether that player actually wants to leave remains to be seen. Klopp has gone on record and told centre back Mamadou Sahko that he will have to go out on loan to prove his fitness before he returns back into the Liverpool first team fold but there seems to be a big stumbling block as Sahko has already turned down approaches from West Brom and Stoke.
At first it was as if as Klopp was asking him nicely that he should consider a loan spell away from Liverpool but now it’s very apparent that he is being told to go. The caveat here is that he’s not being told to go for good but if he wants to consider any long term future at Liverpool then he has to join up with someone else before the transfer window ends on Wednesday. It’s been a particularly rocky few months for Sahko with him banned by UEFA for a drugs charge which meant he would miss both Liverpool’s Europa League Final appearance and France’s run to the Euro 2016 Final, to be then cleared off all wrongdoing would have certainly added insult to injury.
After being cleared to play he was then sent home by Klopp from Liverpool’s Pre-Season tour of the USA. Klopp making the decision due to the fact that he felt the 26 year old was being a disruptive influence to his training preparations. To make matters even worse he then picked up an injury which has seen him lose his first team place to new signing Ragnar Klavan and it’s been a few bleak months for the former PSG defender. The question now is whether or not he makes it worse for himself by digging his heels and refusing to leave the club before the end of the month.
From Sahko’s point of view you can see that he feels ready and able to win back his place in the Liverpool first team but without game time how is he going to get fully match fit, so he now finds himself in somewhat of a catch 22 situation. Klopp has obviously weighed up his options and feels he has enough defensive personnel to sacrifice Sahko for the season in the hope he then comes back a better player. If Sahko does stay put then he would have defied the boss and that would all but spell the death knell for his Liverpool so maybe if does want to stay on Merseyside he may well have to swallow his pride and don another teams colours for a few months. Will player power win out or will the old adage ‘don’t cross the boss’ once again ring true?
