Jurgen Klopp says he has “no concerns” about Mohamed Salah’s future at Liverpool, despite the winger’s statement that he was “devastated” by Liverpool’s failure to qualify for the Champions League.
Salah made his comments on social media immediately after Manchester United defeated Chelsea 4-1 on Thursday, denying Liverpool a top-four position.
Klopp’s team will finish fifth and compete in the Europa League the following season.
“Mo loves being here, and Mo was a part of it,” Klopp said Friday.
“He apologized for what ‘we’ did, not ‘what the other guys did, but I had to go with them.'” Everything is fine.”
“There’s absolutely no excuse for this,” the Egypt international tweeted on Thursday. We had everything we needed to qualify for the Champions League the next year, but we fell short.
“We are Liverpool, and just qualifying for the competition is enough.” I’m sorry, but it’s too early for an upbeat or positive post. We failed you and ourselves.”
Salah, who signed a new three-year contract with Liverpool this summer earning more than £350,000 per week, has scored 19 league goals this season.
When asked if he was concerned about Salah’s future at Liverpool following his social media comments, Klopp replied, “No worries, no.” I could only hear what he said, but I couldn’t find anything that pointed in that direction.
“If a player came to me and said, ‘Oh, we didn’t qualify for the Champions League, I have to leave,’ I would personally drive him to the other club.”
“I’d take the key and say, ‘Come in, where do you want to go, I’ll drive you.'”
United simply needed a point against Chelsea in their last game of the season to secure their place in the Champions League.
Liverpool won seven of their last eight games in a late drive for fourth place, but they were unable to make up for their erratic start to the season.
Despite missing out on the final Champions League qualification spot, Klopp stated the squad is still “really united.”
“Neither of us pointed fingers at the other. That’s all right. If you don’t qualify for the Champions League, the most you can hope for is fifth place, therefore that’s what we did,” he remarked ahead of Liverpool’s match against Southampton on Sunday.
“If you asked me ten games ago if that was possible, I would have said no.” That the boys did is excellent, yet it is not flawless.
“We didn’t finish fifth because of the last ten games; we finished fifth because of a lack of consistency prior to that.”
