Jurgen Klopp’s stance on Mohamed Salah’s future at Liverpool is clear and star player confirms it

It has been 365 days since Jurgen Klopp rejected suggestions from Mohamed Salah who could be placed for an uncertain summer.

At the time, the Liverpool manager insisted that his star striker was fortunately settled on Merseyside.

And a year later, it seems nothing has changed.

On January 31, 2020, Klopp was asked if he thought Salah would still be around for the start of next season.

“I think so,” the Reds boss joked.

“Did you hear anything different?

“How can you see the hunger to stay at Liverpool? It seems to me he’s really settled down to be honest.

“I have no idea, actually, but you could ask me the same question for everyone else and I have no idea. I haven’t thought about it before. [the press] my request.

“As long as I don’t hear anything and ask the players what they think about next season or two years from now, to me it looks like [he will stay].

“How long is his contract? Long? I would [think so] yes, but I have no idea. “

Of course, the manager was right and Salah continued to plunder goals and excel leading the line for Liverpool for much of this season.

Fast forward 11 months to December 19, however, and Salah has fanned the flames around his own future, with many rushing to fuel the fire.

To explain, Salah hinted he wanted to extend his contract at Liverpool last month after declaring his desire to break “all club records”.

But the Egyptian is open-minded about his future after refusing to rule out a transfer to La Liga title contenders Real Madrid or Barcelona.

The 28-year-old was in sparkling scorer form at the time of the interview and broke Steven Gerrard’s record for most Champions League goals for Liverpool in December, one of many benchmarks he has achieved since arriving at Anfield in the summer of 2017.

And the forward has indicated he wants to be there to set more standards when asked how long he wants to stay with the Reds.

“It’s tough, but at the moment I can say it’s all in the hands of the club,” said Salah.

“Of course I want to break records here, all club records, but it’s all in the hands of the club.

“I think I broke a few records, I wish I could break all the club records, that would be good.

“But the team is above all records. But as long as you keep breaking records and winning games, that’s great too.”

Salah, however, stopped before ruling out a move to two of Spain’s main teams in an interview with Spanish media AS.

“I think Madrid and Barcelona are top clubs,” he said.

“We never know what’s going to happen in the future, but for now I’m focused on winning the Premier League and Champions League again with my club.”

Now the interview was more like a call from Salah to FSG to be given a new contract, but the fact that he didn’t rule out figures like Real Madrid has caused a lot of people to get carried away to find out. where his future would lie.

But just at the right time, Klopp was there to stand firm in his stance on the matter.

On December 24, the manager refused to give any credibility to talk about Salah’s future and said the Egyptian striker enjoys life at Anfield.

“We never talk about contracts, with the press anyway, so why should we start now?” He said.

“Mo is in a good mood and timing, and in great shape and that’s the most important thing for me.

“If you had been in training today you would have seen him laugh a lot. He enjoyed the session so that’s good too.

“The rest is nice to write but internally nothing really [to say]. “

The next day, December 25, Klopp said he saw no reason for Salah to leave Liverpool and went further to dismiss claims the player was making a fuss over a move away from Anfield .

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The manager said: “I don’t know, we all want it and we can look for something else if you want, but the only reason to leave Liverpool now is really the weather.

“What other reason could be there? They are one of the biggest clubs in the world.

“We pay a lot of money, maybe not the most in the world, but we pay well, and we have a sensational stadium, great supporters with a fan base all over the world.

“So our colors are red, which is the prettiest anyway, so what’s the reason? But you can’t make people stay but that’s it.

“We’ve never done that by the way, it’s all about timing in the right times, stuff like that. We’ve made changes to bring the players in and if someone wants to leave, we can’t hold them back. .

“I just don’t understand why anyone would want to go. And when Mo answered the question, it was that these clubs might be interested, but he didn’t rule that out. Imagine.

“Okay, I’m different because you ask me a lot of things about this and these things about contracts and stuff like that.”

“But ask any player in the world who doesn’t play for Barcelona or Real Madrid, then ask them ‘can you imagine playing for them someday?’ and [imagine] he said, “No, not for me, Spanish. They are the biggest in Spain ”.

“Why should he say that? The only thing he said was ‘we’ll see’.

“And about Liverpool, [a new contract] is in the hands of the club and stuff like that. It is 100% true.

“It’s all about talk and talk about a future and that sort of thing, so it’s really good.

“You obviously don’t have much to say and that’s why we’re making a long story from an interview.

“That’s great, but that doesn’t make things more important to me. Mo is a very important player for me, obviously. But this story isn’t.”

Klopp also said he was more than happy with what Salah said in the interview, saying he was doing more than he needed to.

“Those kind of interviews I’ve heard about now,” he added.

“You do a lot to be honest, which is good, absolutely good, but on a daily basis, we just don’t feel it.

“It’s a challenge to manage the players in general. They are all human beings and you are different and my players are no different. It’s a challenge in a good way but it’s my job, actually.

“The problem with footballers is that they have to be extremely confident to be able to play their best football.

“So being extremely confident makes you special and not always the easiest to deal with every day, but so far there is no problem and I see none in the future. “

Speculation then began to die out, and it was then star midfielder turned center-back Fabinho who added weight to Klopp’s position.

On January 13, 2021, the Brazil international explained his belief that his ‘demanding’ teammate Salah would still be linked with potential transfers elsewhere but he was confident the Egyptian remained happy at Anfield.

Fabinho said: “The big players will always have their names involved in the rumors.

“Salah plays for Liverpool, one of the biggest teams in the world. So I think it’s normal to see his name linked to other teams, especially different leagues.

“Anyway, I see him very happy here and happy with his performance this season.

“He’s very demanding of himself, he wants to be the best, he wants to help the team and works hard for that.

“It always has been and it hasn’t changed at all. He continues to score goals, which is what everyone is used to seeing. In the locker room, he always talks to everyone and makes jokes.

“I don’t see anything affecting him. Overall, I don’t follow the news so I’m not sure of any rumors. Like I said, top quality players will always be linked to big clubs.

And then it was Salah himself who came out to set the record straight on January 18.

The striker reiterated his willingness to stay at Liverpool and said he wanted to stay at Anfield beyond his current terms, which expire in the summer of 2023, declaring his contractual situation “in the hands of the club”.

Asked about his future by Norwegian channel TV2, Salah said: “I don’t know.

“If you ask, I’m saying I want to stay here as long as possible, but like I said before, it’s in the hands of the club.

“I will always give 100% at the last minute of my time at this club and I want to win as many trophies as possible.

“And I want to give 100% to people, who show me love all the time.”

Finally, it was Klopp who had the final say after even more speculation about Salah following these comments.

On January 23, the boss said he was not worried the story would have an impact on the team.

“I don’t think so,” he replied to one of those suggestions. It is also a normal thing in the world of football.

“It’s not that we go out and talk about things that we think are important, it’s pretty rare. But we get asked questions and we answer and that’s the story and [it looks like] we started the conversation.

“In most cases it’s not like that. No, I don’t think it’s going to disrupt the season.”