Mamadou Sakho told Canal Football Club that his connections with PSG mean that he could never play for Marseille.
The French defender hasn’t played for Liverpool since March 2016 after a drug scandal saw him banned by UEFA. He was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing despite missing both the Europa League final for Liverpool and the Euro 2016 final for France as he was ineligible for selection.
He followed up his decision to take fat burners by breaking club rules on three separate occasions while on tour in the United States in the summer and has since been told that he can leave the club. An outburst on Snapchat further exacerbated the situation and Sakho has been forced to train with the reserves in a bid to remain fit in the hopes that a club will take him on.
Southampton were interested in signing him last week but the failure to agree on a fee meant that talks broke down. There was also the option of him taking him on a loan with the option to buy, but Liverpool are adamant that Sakho needs to leave permanently with there being no future for him at the club.
“I think Marseille have a very good team. Bafe [Gomis] and Pat [Evra] are friends of mine,” Sakho told Canal Football Club.
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“But my answer to this might remind certain people about a song. When there is PSG, Sakho is with them.”
The frustration surrounding the Sakho saga is that Liverpool are experiencing heightened defensive issues in the Frenchman’s absence. While some maintain that Sakho is as error-prone as Dejan Lovren, there is no denying that the former Paris-Saint Germain captain is on a different level to Lovren. A centre-back partnership of Jöel Matip and Sakho may well have been one which could have been fruitful for the club.
Some believe that Klopp has been too harsh on Sakho and that, given Liverpool’s boundless issues at the back, it may be wise to give him another chance. At this rate, however, if he hasn’t departed by tomorrow evening, he will remain in the reserves for the rest of the season and will definitely be off in the summer.