Jurgen Klopp has revealed he axed Mamadou Sakho from his squad because of a lack of “respect” from the player.
The Liverpool manager explained sent his French international defender home from the current pre-season tour of America only after he failed to meet at appointed times on THREE separate occasions.
And the German coach insisted that even though the matter is “not serious”, he will refuse to allow any player to disrupt the spirit and atmosphere he is trying to build in the Reds squad, or show a lack of respect to him or the rest of the players.
Klopp added that he will sit down with centre-half Sakho when the club returns from the United States next week, and decide on his future, and he said:
“It’s not that serious.
"He missed the departure of the plane, he missed a session and then was late for a meal...
"I have to build a group here, I have to start anew, so I thought it maybe made sense that he flew home to Liverpool and after eight days, when we come back, we can talk about it.
“But it’s not that serious. It is how I said, we have some rules and we have to respect them. If somebody doesn’t respect it, or somebody gives me the feeling he is not respecting it then I have to react, that’s all.”
There was no bust-up between the pair, but Klopp was disappointed with the player’s attitude around the training camp in Palo Alto.
The manager said he simply laid down the law to Sakho – and didn’t even allow any comeback.
“It is private, how he reacted. But we had no argument, it wasn’t ‘Aghh! You.... No...” No. I spoke. You cannot argue when only one person is speaking, that’s all,” he said.
“I think missed a session is missed a session. Even injured players have sessions, that’s all.”
Clearly, the 26-year-old’s future at Liverpool is now on the line, and the player will have to prove his attitude has change to persuade the manager to give him another chance.
That will come in a heart-to-heart meeting next week, but Klopp did admit that he is unlikely to fine the centre-half – because he doesn’t believe that punishment works.
Instead, he wants Sakho to understand what is the right way to behave without any further sanctions.
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