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Jürgen Klopp has told Mohamed Salah that the only reason to leave Liverpool is the weather, but admitted that the club cannot force a player to stay against their will.
Salah did not rule out a future signing for Barcelona or Real Madrid when he gave a rare interview last week to the Spanish sports daily AS and expressed his disappointment at not being named captain of Liverpool’s Champions League group final in Midtjylland. . On the other hand, the Egyptian international, who became the club’s top scorer in the Champions League in that match, also declared that he wanted to break “all club records” and that his immediate goal was to win the Premier League again. and the European elite competition with Liverpool. .
Klopp said the interview did not indicate internal problems between Liverpool and their top scorer, who has a contract at Anfield until 2023.
The Liverpool manager said: “The only reason to leave Liverpool at the moment is the weather. What other reason could there be? This is one of the biggest clubs in the world. We pay a lot of money, maybe it is not the most in the world, but we pay well, we have a sensational stadium with outstanding fans, we have a fan base all over the world and our colors are red, which is the most beautiful color of all modes.
“You can’t force people to stay, but that’s it. By the way, we never did. It’s about syncing, at the right time. We make changes and we bring players and if a player wants to go then we can’t, we probably won’t retain him; it’s just that I wouldn’t understand why anyone would want to go.
“When Mo answered the question it was that these clubs might be interested and he did not rule it out. If you ask any player in the world who is not playing for Barcelona or Real Madrid if he imagines playing there one day and he answers: ‘No, Spanish football is not for me’, why should I say that? The only thing he said was that we will see and it is in the hands of the club. It’s 100% true and it’s about having conversations about the future. Everything is really fine. Mo is a very important player for me, obviously, but this story is not. “
Klopp said it can be “challenging” to manage players at Salah’s level, although “in a good way.” He said: “Footballers must have a lot of confidence to be able to play their best football. Being very confident makes you a special person, but it is not always the easiest to deal with every day. That’s my job. To deal with it. So far there has been no problem. I don’t see any problem in the future. “
The Liverpool manager admitted, however, that he was wrong to name Trent Alexander-Arnold captain of his childhood club for the first time against Midtjylland. Salah told AS that he expected to be captain that night in the absence of Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Virgil van Dijk and Georginio Wijnaldum.
“I was a captain for a long time in my career and I always thought, ‘what job is this’ because there are not many benefits and there is a lot of work,” Klopp said. “I didn’t feel, or didn’t feel, the importance of being a captain. Before the game, I didn’t realize how important that can be to the players and I didn’t realize how important the story was to Trent.
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“The rule here is that we have a players committee. The committee consists of Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Virgil van Dijk, and Gini Wijnaldum. These are practically the four captains. If everyone can’t play, he is usually the boy who has been in the club the longest. And so, as I saw it, it was Trent. I am not referring to the youth career, but to your professional career. Then someone told me that on that basis it should have been Divock Origi. So it was my fault.
“I spoke to Mo about it later. Then I realized it didn’t work that well so I clarified it. He evidently gave the interview. That is not a problem for me. He was obviously disappointed. I didn’t do it on purpose, and if I made a mistake, it wasn’t making Divock Origi captain that day. “
