Jurgen hails Priceless Mo as a real anField sTaYer ‘FOOTBALL CAN HEAL THE HURT’

JURGEN KLOPP is refusing to even contemplate selling Mo Salah after seeing the strike star prove he is priceless to Liverpool during this season from hell.

The champions are facing a fight just to finish in the top four after four successive league defeats all but ended their hopes of retaining the title.

But Salah (left) has been in sensational form and is clear at the top of the Premier League goal charts after hitting the net 24 times in 35 games in all competitions. The Egyptian forward, 28, has flirted with

Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid as well as pressing Liverpool to show their commitment with a new contract.

Klopp said: “It is very important – both to the team and that Mo stays here with us.

“It is not often that I have to praise my own players, which of course I always like to do. But in Mo’s case the numbers just speak for themselves. But Mo is not only a goalscorer. He has developed football-wise as well .

“And hopefully he will be that for a very long time.”

Liverpool’s problems have not just been confined to the pitch, although Klopp is hoping £45million striker Diogo Jota may play some role against Sheffield United this evening after almost three months out with a knee injury.

The Liverpool manager lost his mother to Covid-19 last month.

And goalkeeper Alisson is grieving after his father died in a drowning accident in Brazil.

Klopp expects a response from his team but he has warned the Blades will be no soft touch even though they are staring into the abyss of relegation. Klopp added: “The games we have analysed on Sheffield United show that in the last seven or eight games they have been much better.

“Now they are getting results as well, but even before that I saw they were unlucky in a lot of moments.

“It is a similar situation to us. It isn’t because they are completely underperforming, it is because in decisive moments both teams aren’t doing enough things right.

“But as long as my team shows me that they really have a desire to win or change the situation I am completely on their side.”

CHRIS WILDER believes football can help Jurgen Klopp and Alisson come to terms with the family tragedies that have plunged Liverpool into a state of mourning.

The Sheffield United boss has nothing but sympathy for his Anfield rival following the death of the German’s mother from coronavirus last month.

And now Kop keeper Alisson (below) has been left devastated after his father drowned whilst swimming in a lake at the family’s holiday home in Brazil.

Wilder said: “There are always situations which happen in people’s personal lives. But you get back to earth, you concentrate on work – and you concentrate on football.

“Maybe I’m stating the obvious here, but you can look at it and say football doesn’t matter. But football does matter – or at least it ends up mattering.

“We all have those situations but, in time, we always come back to the one thing that is consistent in our lives – and it’s that game of football.”

Wilder has somehow managed to keep smiling himself during a season which is almost certain to see his team relegated from the Premier League. The Blades have lost 14 PL games this season by a singlegoal margin. Tonight they entertain a Liverpool team that has suffered four successive defeats.

Wilder (above) had a public spat with Klopp earlier in the season over the German’s insistence that top-flight clubs should be allowed to use five substitutes during the pandemic.

But he insists he has nothing but respect for the man who led Liverpool to their first title in 30 years last year.

Wilder said: “I’ve got so much admiration for Jurgen.

“He’s a top-class manager and if I was precious about everything people said about me over the years I wouldn’t be doing this job.

“I’ve tried to keep smiling. Others may do it differently, but if you want to know what I’m about then I will always try to talk in an honest and transparent way.

“We enjoy the good times and try to get through the bad times in the same manner.

“It’s been a year no-one can understand or enjoy, but when we look back on it maybe in future we won’t take things for granted like we did.” ‘We always come back to the one thing that is consistent in our lives – and

it’s football’

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