Mamadou Sakho has not played for Liverpool all season, and ended up joining Crystal Palace in January.
Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha, Mamadou Sakho and Bakary Sako after the match
Garth Crooks has told BBC Sport that he cannot understand Liverpool’s decision to let Mamadou Sakho join Crystal Palace on loan after he put in another excellent display during the Eagles’ victory over West Brom at the weekend.
Sakho had not played for the Reds all season seemingly due to discipline issues (via Daily Mail), leaving the path clear for him to move to Selhurst Park during the January transfer window.
He has since played twice for Palace and performed admirably on both occasions. And after his display against the Baggies helped Sam Allardyce’s men secure a 2-0 win, Crooks has insisted that he cannot understand why Liverpool allowed the defender – who was included in his team of the week – to leave.
“Less than a year ago, Sakho had acquired cult status at Anfield only to be unceremoniously shown the door by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp after a disagreement between the two men. Bust-ups between highly-strung characters were common place in my day, so why it should signal the departure of this totally committed defender, I don’t understand,” he told BBC Sport.
Crystal Palace’s Jason Puncheon and Mamadou Sakho after the match
“Nevertheless, what has become surplus to requirements for Liverpool has been warmly greeted (on loan) by Crystal Palace. The defender was magnificent against West Brom.”
While differences between the player and manager may not be the only reason why the Frenchman could not make the grade following Jurgen Klopp’s arrival if the boss decided that Sakho simply did not understand the system he wanted the Reds to play, it could certainly be argued that Crooks’ opinion is valid.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool have played brilliant football all season going forward – they are the highest scoring team in the Premier League – and it is arguably only their defensive problems that have prevented them keeping pace with Chelsea.
Though Sakho’s presence would probably not solve all of their issues at the back, the fact that Palace have kept clean sheets in both of the games that he has featured in – they had only kept two league clean sheets since the start of December before Sakho’s debut – would suggest that Klopp’s men could have had a better defensive record than they do now had the 27-year-old been given a chance.
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