Sakho on agenda as Klopp discusses Liverpool squad plans

Mamadou Sakho: Palace new boy

Mamadou Sakho: On loan at Crystal Palace

Jurgen Klopp has discussed his plans for Liverpool’s squad and Mamadou Sakho’s future at Anfield.

The Reds’ win over Arsenal on Saturday has lifted them into fourth place, two points ahead of the Gunners, although Arsenal have a game in hand.

Klopp’s men remain firmly in the frame to finish in the top four, but regardless of whether they reach the Champions League the German will be heavily involved in the summer transfer window.

Asked whether the Arsenal victory made it more difficult to be “ruthless” in the summer, Klopp replied: “I understand the question, and it’s a good question, because after the last game I was low, angry whatever, and I am not angry in this moment.

“It is not that we are not serious in the things we are doing. The important thing in a development is that you take the information you get, and work with it. Most of the information you don’t like.

“When everything is perfect already, then you think, ‘yeah, well, ok, c’mon, done, now we can deliver’.

“And we can already very often deliver. But I said in life, we are all a little bit like this, that we let the bad things influence us more than the good things, otherwise we would celebrate our birthday maybe longer than one day.

“We are like this, but especially in this moment, the club is completely together. Usually it is not that hard, but only because it is Liverpool and everybody expects we already should be somewhere else – I understand this 100%, it is our aim, it is where we want to be.

“We are completely fine, the owners are fine, they are completely with us, the players we have a wonderful relationship…but that doesn’t mean we say every day what they want to hear. It means we work together on the things we are not as good as – I’m not sure if we could already be or not.

“If we judge the players after the best game of the season, then we sign a contract for another six seasons, if we do it after Leicester then you change the whole squad. But the truth is always in between.”

Klopp also spoke about the future of Mamadou Sakho, who was loaned out to Crystal Palace in January.

Sakho has impressed at Selhurst Park, but his contract expires at Anfield in the summer and he has not played for Klopp since last April.

However Klopp has left the door open for Sakho at Anfield.

“That is nothing we have to decide in this moment. So that is it,” he told SFR Sport.

“He made his first appearance after a really long time [on February 25], and so all we have to do is to be focused on the season and this squad here.

“I will not talk to you about potential transfers we make, so it makes no sense to talk about players we gave on loan. We will see.”