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(Reuters) – Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp sees no reason why Mohamed Salah wants to leave the Premier League champion, but says he will not keep the Egyptian striker at the club against his will.
Salah told Spanish newspaper AS in an interview this month that he admired Real Madrid and Barcelona, fueling rumors in the British media that he was looking to move on.
“I think the only reason to leave Liverpool right now is the weather. What other reason could there be?” Klopp said at a press conference.
“This is one of the biggest clubs in the world, we pay good money … we have a great stadium with an exceptional crowd.
“You can’t force people to stay, but that’s it … We make changes and we bring in players and if a player wants to leave, we probably can’t stop him; he just wouldn’t understand why anyone would want to leave.” Let’s go.”
Salah stayed on the bench for last weekend’s 7-0 win at Crystal Palace, but still scored two goals when he came in to help the leaders maintain their excellent form.
He became Liverpool’s all-time top scorer in the Champions League earlier this month in a 1-1 draw at Denmark’s Midtjylland.
Klopp said Salah’s comments about the Spanish teams were not an indication of his desire to leave Liverpool.
“If you ask any player in the world who is not playing for Barcelona or Madrid if he imagines playing there one day and he answers: ‘No, Spanish football is not for me’, why would they say that?
“Mo is a very important player for me, obviously, but this story is not.”
Liverpool top the table with 31 points from 14 games, four ahead of second-placed Leicester City. On Sunday they will face West Bromwich Albion, second from the bottom.
(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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