Mo Salah is set to leave Liverpool at the end of this season, but his former manager Jurgen Klopp has given his candid thoughts on the Egyptian, whose glorious days at Anfield have come to an end.
Manager Jurgen Klopp speaks about Salah’s impending departure (Image: Getty Images)
Jurgen Klopp sent a text message to ‘irreplaceable’ Mo Salah immediately after learning he was leaving Anfield. The Egyptian winger confirmed earlier this week that he will leave Merseyside this summer despite having one year left on his contract.
Salah, 33, enjoyed his best football under former Liverpool manager Klopp. And the German is set to return to Merseyside this week for the Legends clash against Borussia Dortmund, and revealed he had contacted the former star following the announcement.
“I’m sending messages to the players,” Klopp said. “If it’s not very nice, let me say so! ‘Please hold your head up’ is not a very nice word!”
“That’s exactly what happened. I heard he was leaving. Then I saw the video. I was going to call him or text him or whatever. I didn’t know if I would be able to reach him or not. I was going to call him.”
“By the way, we have the same physical therapist. I lend him my physical therapist! Chris Rohrbeck is working on my hip. Anyway, I needed to process it a little to figure out what it meant for Mo to go.”
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“I was already in a different perspective because I was looking in from the outside. I have this distance, if you like. So I texted him what I thought in that moment. I can sum it up: I’m really happy and proud to have been a part of the whole journey.”
Liverpool now have a huge task to supplement Salah’s contribution. The former Roma star has scored 255 goals for the club since joining from the Italian side.
And Klopp believes it will be impossible for the Reds to find a replacement for Salah. He added: “These kinds of players are irreplaceable, that’s always the case.”
Salah has shown excellent form under Klopp (Image: Getty Images)
“There’s going to be a hole for somebody to fill. It’s always in our minds how much time, how much space, yeah, how much time the manager is going to give to the players who are going to play in whatever system they’re going to play in.”
“But a particular player, Mo Salah? I don’t even know if there are other players. There are other players on that wing who play with different strengths, different qualities, but it’s the numbers he produces. They are unparalleled from that position.”
“I don’t know if there’s been a player with that[from there]. If you say he’s a winger, he’s a striker, he goes, ‘No, no, no, I’m a winger.’ The numbers for wingers are () ridiculous. For a striker, it’s almost unparalleled. That’s what it is.”
Salah leaves Liverpool at the end of this season (Image: Getty Images)
“So if it’s not possible, why try? I’m not in a position to advise anyone. But just bring in players and play football that has the potential to be successful. That’s pretty much all there is to it.”
“We lost Sadio Mane. You can sing about him. What a great player he was! Bobby Firmino – oh my God. The day Gini[Georginio Wijnaldum]left, probably no one thought, ‘It’s a big mistake.’ When he’s no longer there, you think, ‘Oh! He was a player with technique, power, tactical discipline, all those things.’
“Then Hendo (Jordan Henderson) left. Some people thought, ‘Great! It’s time!'” Millie (James Milner) did all those things. That’s exactly right. But other players have come in, like Macca (Alexis Mac Allister), Ryan (Gravenbert) and Dom (Dominik Szoboszlai). That’s it. Don’t try to chase shadows. Find new ways to play. ”
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