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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has dismissed speculation that Mohamed Salah is unhappy at the club.
The Egyptian international gave an interview in Spain last week in which he said that Barcelona and Real Madrid were top clubs and “who knows what will happen in the future.”
Analysis of his comments ranged from suggestions that he was seeking a new, longer-term contract beyond 2023 to not happy that Trent Alexander-Arnold had been preferred as captain in the Champions League against Midtjylland earlier this year. month.
Klopp, however, played down the noise surrounding his leading scorer.
“We don’t talk deals, well, not with you (the media). Why should we start now?” he said.
“Mo is in a good mood, at a good time. He is in very good shape and that is the most important thing to me.
“We didn’t have photos (from training ground) this morning, but if we did, you would have seen him laugh, a lot.
“Obviously it’s good for all of you to write about this, but it’s really nothing.”
Salah has scored 13 goals in the 13 Premier League matches he has participated in, with only one missing due to Covid-19 isolation.
It’s his best start to a Premier League season, even better than his debut campaign when he scored 32 in 38 appearances and registered 12 goals in the same 14-game leg.
On that occasion, his season was lit in December and Klopp expects the same from his leading scorer, who came off the bench at Crystal Palace last week to score twice in a 7-0 victory.
“I think there are all these things to talk about: he was not a starter in the last game, all the things I heard afterwards about what the reason could be and then he came in and scored two,” added the Reds coach.
“I think in his first season he wasn’t a starter against Stoke, he came in and scored two. Obviously he doesn’t need a lot of time.
“Yes, he’s in a good moment and I hope he stays that way. All the guys were in a good moment, that’s why we have the points we have so far.”
“Now it is much more important that we move forward. Everyone knows that the most difficult point of the season is ahead of us.”
“The Christmas period is always difficult, so we must make sure we get through it with the correct results.”
For the third season in a row, Liverpool lead at Christmas. In the previous 11 seasons, only twice has the team at the top of the Premier League failed to win the title: Liverpool in 2013-14 and Klopp’s team in 2018-19.
“We were one of them. So is Brendan Rodgers to blame for the other?” Klopp said laughing.
“Obviously it means that you are not automatically champions in May when you are the Christmas leader, otherwise we would have won the league twice.
“It’s the best position you can be in right now, but that’s it. We know how difficult it is, how it was, how it will be.”
“We haven’t played half the season, which we normally would have done at this time. It’s nice, nothing more.
“Two years ago, when we didn’t win the league after being the best at Christmas, it wasn’t a lack of concentration, it was just the quality of the opponent and this quality is still there.
“Nothing has happened so far. We collected some points and if we want to do something special this year we have to accumulate even more until the end of the season.”
Klopp could have James Milner and Xherdan Shaqiri back for the December 27 home game against West Brom, but fellow midfielder Thiago Alcantara’s recovery from a knee injury will take a little longer.
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