Jurgen Klopp says he has no reason to speak to Mohamed Salah over the latest reports around his Liverpool future. And the Reds boss insists the 28-goal top scorer is totally committed to the Anfield cause as they look to close the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester City to just one point on Wednesday night at Arsenal.
Jurgen Klopp said: “No, no, I don’t have to remind any player and for sure not Mo. No chance! This season everyone is completely committed. Some players don’t play often enough, some aren’t in the squad often enough, they could create a bad atmosphere but they don’t, they will not. They have a clear commitment to this team, this season and when it is done, we will talk about the rest, whatever, the future, all these kinds of things. And Mo is not the guy for that, not at all. If I don’t line him up, then his mood goes down, that is possible, but it is not against the team or whatever, no chance.”
Liverpool will make a late call on Salah ahead of Wednesday’s visit to Arsenal after he came off in the second half of Saturday’s 2-0 win over Brighton with a foot injury. Salah has played in 171 of the 180 Premier League games since moving to the club in 2017 and has not missed a match through injury since concussion protocols kept him out of the 4-0 Champions League win over Barcelona in May 2019.
Jurgen Klopp added: “On top of that [durability], there is a statistic, I am not exactly sure who had it, but the statistic is that Mo is the one player who is fouled the least compared to other strikers. It is absolutely crazy how low the number of fouls is against him when the referee doesn’t whistle. So he has constant contact [from defenders] and is going down all the time, having to get up again, stuff like this. It is not only luck or whatever, obviously, but he is very professional and desperate to play every game. So when I left him out once or twice or he didn’t start, these things were really hard for him. But he tries to be on the pitch in training and games, if somehow possible. He’s fortunate as well and he has worked on his body but it is not possible to do miracles. There are players who are more vulnerable than others but Mo obviously has the right attitude, the right mindset and the right body for it as well. Honestly you have to ask the refs [why Salah doesn’t get more free-kicks]. I don’t know because we constantly think he gets fouled. He gets confronted with the [claim]. that someone calls him a diver or whatever, that is an absolute shame. I have no idea. We don’t get even close to the number of free kicks that we should have. We don’t talk about it, it is not important because we still win football games and these types of things, but come on… I cannot explain [the Salah stat]. You must ask other people how that is possible, because he is the guy who is constantly with the ball around the box and there is no foul. Interesting. How is that? It is just not possible. There are situations where he goes down and there’s a challenge, so it is not that he avoids these situations. No, it is just the opposite actually. I cannot explain it.”
