A number of players over the years have lived to regret leaving Liverpool.
Ryan Babel said leaving Liverpool was the biggest regret of his career, while Daniel Sturridge left Liverpool before he was ready to say goodbye to Anfield.
There’s something special about Liverpool that is just hard to replicate at any other club, and the grass is rarely greener, even if things aren’t going to plan at any given moment.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, Mamadou Sakho has been discussing his departure from Liverpool.
The defender left Liverpool to sign for Crystal Palace for £26m in 2017, and he says that he would’ve loved to have stayed at Anfield instead of making the move to Selhurst Park.
Unfortunately, Sakho and Jurgen Klopp fell out, and that led to the Frenchman’s departure.
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Mamadou Sakho wanted to stay at Liverpool
Sakho spoke about his departure from Liverpool.
The defender says he doesn’t have any regrets from his career, but he would’ve loved to have stayed at Liverpool, and that was the initial plan for the centre-back.
“Of course (I would have loved to stay). Of course, because before I left, I signed a new contract, four years,” Sakho said.
“The plan was for me to continue my career at Liverpool.
“But as I said, when few things happen inside, it cannot. It’s football. That’s it.
“I don’t have any regrets personally. I give my 100% for this club. I fight, I give my maximum every game and I’m really proud to live in this city, to play in this stadium, to have this connection with the fans.”
How did Liverpool replace Mamadou Sakho?
Sakho was one of the first casualties of the Jurgen Klopp era, and the German made sure that Sakho’s replacements were top quality.
Sakho was frozen out of the Liverpool squad in 2016, and that was around the time Joel Matip was coming into the side.
Matip would become a star at Liverpool. In fact, Matip is one of the most underrated defenders in Premier League history.
Liverpool would follow up Matip’s arrival with the signing of Virgil van Dijk 18 months later, and those two would become an incredible pairing.
Matip and Van Dijk were perfectly suited to Jurgen Klopp’s style of play, both men are brilliant on the ball and confident when playing out from the back, which is a serious contrast to Sakho’s style.
Van Dijk is the best defender in the world to this day according to some.
Sakho carved out a solid career at Crystal Palace, but it’s fair to say the time was right for the Frenchman to leave Liverpool at that point.
