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6 Liverpool Players, Including Mo Salah, Fell Out With Jurgen Klopp
On the face of it, Jurgen Klopp was a much-beloved character on the red half of Merseyside as Liverpool were in a state of disarray when he arrived from Borussia Dortmund in 2015. By the time he upped and left nine years later, another Champions League trophy was added to their tally and their name had been engraved into the top flight trophy for the first time since the league’s rebrand in 1992.
Things weren’t always neat and shiny for the 58-year-old and his win-at-all-costs mentality meant that falling out with players was inevitable. Nuri Sahin felt the wrath of the passionate manager during their time in Germany together – and that continued to be the case when Klopp moved to England’s top flight. Here are six players of a Liverpool persuasion who clashed with the managerial great.
1
Mamadou Sakho
Signed by Klopp’s predecessor, Brendan Rodgers, Mamadou Sakho‘s happy-go-lucky attitude meant that he’s a tough person to fall out with – but the German tactician valued punctuality highly and that’s how this relationship quickly dissolved into a bit of a feud. That’s because Sakho, who also played for Paris Saint-Germain and Crystal Palace, was late to numerous meetings.
He was even sent home early from Liverpool’s 2016 pre-season tour in the United States. “He missed the departure of the plane, he missed a session and then was late for a meal,” Klopp said before insinuating that Sakho didn’t strike him as a team player. “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.”
‘Jurgen Klopp Banished Me at Liverpool – But He Lied About Me For Weeks’
Mamadou Sakho’s Liverpool career ended in disappointing fashion after being banished by Jurgen Klopp.
Sakho didn’t make another appearance under Klopp and, for the first half of the 2016/17 season, he played for the club’s reserves before striking a deal with Palace. Getting their hands on the centre-back was considered shrewd at the time – but the £17 million man was not in Klopp’s plans, and it wasn’t at all to do with him performing poorly on the pitch.
2
Mohamed Salah
Widely regarded as one of Liverpool’s greatest players of all time, Mohamed Salah and Klopp (typically!) saw eye to eye when he was grabbing goals left, right and centre, which inevitably resulted in plenty of success. It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows, though, after the Egypt international showed that he wasn’t happy with his manager in 2024 for leaving him on the bench.
When coming on as a substitute against West Ham United, the serial goal-getter was displeased – and that was evidenced by him holding his arms aloft and conversing with the German on the touchline. You can watch the footage of the two clashing below:
Stuttgart-born Klopp’s post-match interview was interesting. Speaking to TNT Sports, the ex-Mainz chief was keen on shutting down any swirling rumours about a deteriorating relationship, suggesting that the two had made amends in the dressing room and that should be the end of the matter: “No, [I won’t talk about it]. We spoke already in the dressing room and, for me, that’s done.”
3
Lazar Markovic
When Klopp tipped up to Merseyside, Lazar Markovic was on loan at Turkish outfit Fenerbahce as a means of getting more minutes under his belt and once he returned in the summer, it was abundantly clear from word go that he wasn’t going to be a regular at Anfield. A further three loan spells – at Sporting CP, Hull City and Anderlecht – beckoned before he left permanently in January 2019. That turned out to be an ill-fated free transfer to Fulham.
While on loan in Belgium, though, the winger hit out at Klopp and claimed that he would show him what he was missing. “It’s to show that I’m still the same player, to show the people at Liverpool that they can’t treat me that way,” he told a national newspaper. “Yes, it’s okay to take it personally when you are not let go because they’re asking for an unrealistic transfer amount.” Well, Klopp wasn’t proved wrong – and Markovic is now playing in the Cypriot top tier.
4
Mario Balotelli
Whether you think he is/was a talented striker or not, one thing is for certain: Mario Balotelli is a man who isn’t/wasn’t afraid to upset the applecart. Seldom high up in Klopp’s centre-forward pecking order, the Italian – who is among the players with the most wasted potential in football history – was left out of the Reds’ pre-season tour to the United States and all fingers pointed towards an exit.
Balotelli, who scored just one Premier League goal for Liverpool, moved to French side OGC Nice on deadline day, and he later hit out at his well thought of boss. “Klopp does not know me and I do not know him,” he said.
“I was back in Liverpool a month and a half and I spoke to him once. He explained to me that I could stay there, but I was not his first choice, and he told me it was better if I went somewhere else,” the Italy international continued. “If I got games, did well, I could come back, but I said goodbye and thank you, and that we wouldn’t be seeing each other again.”
5
Xherdan Shaqiri
In September 2018, Klopp’s Liverpool were dumped out of the Carabao Cup after a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea at Anfield – and Xherdan Shaqiri was singled out as the scapegoat. After the full-time whistle was blown, Klopp was spotted marching towards the forward, who is now enjoying the twilight period of his career playing for boyhood outfit Basel in his homeland. But why did he fall out with Klopp? “I spoke about a free-kick – the last one,” the German boss said, per The Mirror.
Klopp was referring to an injury-time free-kick when Salah was an option out wide and Shaqiri chose to ignore the open-wide Egyptian. “Mo [Mohamed Salah] was standing wide and a whole bunch of players were in one the direction where we shot the ball.”
“If he could have played in Mo on a one-on-one situation in the last minute of the game it would have been not too bad. It was only about the free-kick, nothing else. But at 1-0, Shaq was completely alone in the box and maybe you will have to ask him why he didn’t shoot in that situation.”
6
Jordon Ibe
Big things were expected of Jordon Ibe – now earning his corn for Lokomotiv Sofia in Bulgaria – when he was deemed to be Raheem Sterling’s worthy successor. Things never really panned out that way for the London-born winger, who earned four caps for England U21s, and he fell out with Klopp over a lack of game time. Ibe had not started in the Premier League for three months at that point.
“I heard from somewhere that Jordon has some problems with me or something? Absolutely not,” Klopp claimed, but things were never fruitful between the two.
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Ibe, now 29 years of age, left Liverpool for Bournemouth in a deal worth £15 million in the summer of 2016, and he made sure to wax lyrical about Rodgers – and not Klopp! – once his move was rubber-stamped and he had completed his move down south. “Bournemouth is a good club,” the wide man said before adding: “They play the same football as Brendan Rodgers used to play, so I like the style of play and the philosophy the manager has got.”
