Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp, sees no reason why Mohamed Salah would want to leave the club after Salah had hinted on leaving the club in the future.
The Reds boss was speaking following Salah’s interview with a Spanish publication AS last week which covered a range of topics such as his interest in one day joining Barcelona or Real Madrid. Salah had said:
We never know what is going to happen in the future.
He also expressed disappointment with not being given the captain’s armband for the recent Champions League draw with Midtjylland.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, instead, saw his dream come true by skippering his boyhood club in Europe and Klopp has moved to clarify the situation, saying it was a mistake on his part to give the honour to the right-back.
Klopp said, instead, the duty should have gone to Divock Origi as he dismissed claims that Salah was agitating for a move away from Anfield. He said:
This is one of the biggest clubs in the world.
We pay good money, maybe not the most in the world, but we pay good, and we have a sensational stadium, outstanding supporters with a fanbase all over the world.
So our colours are red, which is the nicest colour anyway, so what is the reason? But you cannot force people to stay but that is it.
We never did by the way, it is all about timing in the right moments, stuff like this. We have made changes to bring players in and if someone wants to leave we cannot hold them back.
He added that every player would have responded the way Salah did to whether they would want to join Real Madrid or Barcelona in the future saying “they are the big ones in Spain”.
The Reds gaffer also said the captaincy should have been handed to Origi, not Trent, given he had been at the club for the longest in the team that took to the field in Denmark earlier this month.
Klopp also said he spoke to Salah after the game and the Egyptian said he was disappointed and the manager said he “didn’t do it on purpose, I just did what I did. If I made a mistake then it was that Divock Origi was not the captain.”
More: Liverpool.co.uk