Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has reacted to the rumours that forward Mohamed Salah is unhappy at the club.
This is following Salah’s latest interview with a Spanish newspaper that he was disappointed not to be named the captain in the Champions League game at FC Midtjylland when Trent-Alexander Arnold was the skipper. The 28-year-old forward also refused to rule out a move to Real Madrid or Barcelona.
“I think Madrid and Barcelona are top clubs… We never know what is going to happen in the future, but right now I’m focused on winning the Premier League and the Champions League again with my club,” he told AS.
He further stated that it is the club that will determine if he will stay beyond 2023 when his current deal expires.
“I can say that everything is in the club’s hands. Of course I want to break records here and, I repeat, every record in the club, but everything’s in the hands of the club.”
Why is Salah unhappy at Liverpool?
Looking at the recent happening at the club, a disagreement appeared to have broken out between Salah and his striking teammate, Sadio Mane after the Egyptian refused to release a pass to him during a match against Burnley last season. That appeared to have affected their relationship.
But Klopp had played that down. Now it was the Champions League captainship issue in the absence of the club’s skipper, Jordan Henderson.
“Honestly, I was very disappointed. I was expecting to be the captain… but it’s a manager’s decision, so I accept it,” he said.
Reacting to the rumours, Klopp said the striker is happy at Anfield and that what matters to him.
“Mo is in a good mood, a good moment and really good shape – that’s the most important thing for me.
“We did not have pictures [from the training ground] this morning but if we did you would have seen him laughing a lot. All the rest is nice for you [the media] to write about but, internally, nothing really,” said Klopp.
After the publication of the interview with Salah, he came off the bench and scored twice in a 7-0 league win at Crystal Palace, which took his tally to 13 top-flight goals this season.
Liverpool, who host West Brom on Sunday, is currently topping the log and they are likely to maintain the spot into 2021. This is like 2018-19 after they missed out to Manchester City but won the 2019-2020 title.
So, all Klopp needs to do is to help maintain the cordial relationship between his players because disunity within the squad can cause them results and his job eventually.
A recent picture of Mane’s substitution for Salah showed that the duo is not on good terms. It is high time this is addressed as the games keep coming thick and fast.
Is Salah really unhappy at Liverpool as speculated despite the refusal of Klopp to accept? Time will tell.
