Klopp: If a player wants to leave, I will not stop him
Jurgen Klopp said he would not want players to stay at Liverpool if they were upset at missing out on the Champions League places and asked to leave. The manager does not expect an exodus but said: “It is not a personal thing, but it is always like this. You always need to find the right squad for the challenges you face. Then you go for it.”
Jurgen Klopp insists players will be free to leave this summer if Liverpool fail to qualify for the Champions League.
The Premier League champions have fallen to seventh place in the table after five consecutive defeats at Anfield ahead of their game against Fulham tomorrow.
Klopp believes his squad want to remain together regardless of where they finish this season. That includes Mohamed Salah, who showed his frustration when substituted against Chelsea on Thursday. But Klopp will not stand in the way of those who want to leave.
“We said it earlier, years back, if a player does not want to come to us because we don’t play Champions League next season, then I don’t want him,” Klopp said. “And if a player wants to leave because we don’t play Champions League, then I don’t want him. It is not a personal thing, but it is always like this. You always need to find the right squad for the challenges you face. Then you go for it.
“That is nothing we have to worry about. I know we have loyalty from the players. It is not a situation where a player in the squad says we are not in the Champions League so I have to leave. That will not happen. I know them well enough to know that.”
Liverpool remain in this season’s Champions League and have one foot in the quarter-finals following their 2-0 first-leg win against RB Leipzig. They could still qualify for next season by winning the competition and are four points off fourth
place in the Premier League. Klopp believes their absence from Europe’s elite competition will not be long term if they fail to make it this time.
“This club will not be a regular out of the Champions League,” Klopp said. “This year is difficult but the potential and the power of the club is a completely different one. We have the squad together if they are not all injured.
“This club is in a really good position in a difficult time. But in a better position than other clubs I would say.
“What I can say is nobody has to worry about the future of the club because it is in good hands and has a really good team together. That is obviously the basis for a good future.”
Salah, the Premier League’s top scorer this season, was substituted in the 62nd minute against Chelsea with his team chasing the game. He has also answered questions over his contract at Liverpool this season and his agent left a cryptic “fullstop” post on social media when he was taken off this week.
“You get subbed, you are a striker and you think you should stay on the pitch. That’s all completely clear and not an issue, it is just normal life,” Klopp added.