Liverpool offered no comment about the reasons for Sakho’s abrupt departure and there is no indication yet about whether he will be disciplined.
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Quoted in several newspapers, Klopp said: “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, we have to start new here”. “He missed the end of last season and the Euros because of that drugs ban, and now he’s had an unsettled start to pre-season”. So I thought maybe it made sense to fly home to Liverpool and after eight or ten days, then we will come back and we will see how it is.
“It is private how he reacted, but we had no argument, it wasn’t ‘aghh, you, no.'”.
Frenchman Sakho was set to take no part in Liverpool’s tour games against Chelsea and AC Milan due to an Achilles injury that will see him miss the start of the Premier League season.
“If it was another moment, you could rest before, you could do something else, but we have trained a 95-minute session this morning and it was quite warm outside – but we had to do it, it was important”.
“It’s clear we can not be at 100%, but I’m not interested – I want to see the 100% that is possible on this day”.
Although Liverpool refused to comment on the matter at the time, it was widely reported that the French worldwide had been banished due to concerns over his attitude – though there was the slight possibility that he could have returned to England to undergo treatment for an Achilles injury.
“Fine him? You can ask, and I can explain it in general”, Klopp said. It’s not often I have had to fine players, that doesn’t interest me. Always it is the same with every group. Sometimes it’s amusing, when the fine is bull****. Money doesn’t interest me, it never helps, but it’s not that I don’t care.
Despite this, Klopp wants this team to give everything they have in the fixture, even if it not at the level he knows they can reach, according to the Liverpool Echo.
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Glenn is ESPN FC’s Liverpool correspondent.
