Jurgen Klopp says he has ‘no worries’ over Mohamed Salah’s future at Liverpool despite winger saying he was “devastated” not to qualify for the Champions League.
Klopp’s side will finish fifth and play in the Europa League next season
“Mo loves being here and Mo was part of it,” Klopp said on Friday.
“He said an apology for what ‘we’ did – not an apology for ‘what the other guys did, but I had to go with them’. It’s okay.”
The Egypt international said on Twitter on Thursday: “There is absolutely no excuse for this. We had everything we needed to qualify for next year’s Champions League and we failed.
“We are Liverpool and qualifying for the competition is the bare minimum. I’m sorry, but it’s too early for an uplifting or optimistic message. We’ve let you and ourselves down.”
Salah, who signed a new three-year contract – worth over £350,000 a week – with Liverpool last summer, has scored 19 league goals this season.
Asked if he was concerned about Salah’s future at the club following the 30-year-old’s comments on social media, the Liverpool manager said: “No worries, no. I I only heard what he said but couldn’t read anything that could lead to that direction.
“If a player ever came to me and said ‘oh, we haven’t qualified for the Champions League, I have to go’, I would drive him to the other club myself.
“I’ll take the key, [and say]: ‘come in the car, where do you want to go, I’ll drive you’.”
United needed just one point at home to Chelsea in the penultimate game of their season to confirm their Champions League place.
Liverpool have won seven of their last eight games in a late push for fourth place but could not catch up with their inconsistent form in the first half of the season.
Klopp said the team were still “really united” despite the disappointment of missing out on the final Champions League spot.
“We didn’t point fingers at each other. That’s fine. If you don’t qualify for the Champions League, the best possible place is fifth, so that’s what we did,” he said. he said ahead of Liverpool’s visit to Southampton. on Sunday.
“If you had asked me 10 games ago if it was possible, I would have said no. That the boys did that, it’s really good but it’s not perfect.
“We didn’t end up fifth because of the last 10 games, we ended up there because of the lack of consistency before that.”
