Deal Back Then, Letting Him Go!!
French Mamadou Sakho has completed a permanent move to League rivals Crystal Palace from Liverpool. Sakho had a fall-out with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp earlier this year and has not featured for the club ever since. Sakho joined Liverpool from Ligue 1 side Paris Saint Germain for a fee of £18m and established himself as a regular starter under then Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers. But after Klopp took charge of the Merseyside club, Sakho has been having disciplinary issues which have kept him out of action for the Reds.
The 27-year-old defender spent the second half of last season on loan with Palace and made 8 appearances for the London club. During that stint, Palace managed 16 points which helped the club avoid relegation in the last few weeks of the campaign under former manager Sam Allardyce.
Sakho became an instant hit with the Palace fans after just a few games. The same fans will be even more delighted now as he will join them on a permanent basis this season after a fee of £26m was agreed upon. Liverpool was initially demanding £30 million for Sakho but settled for £22m plus £3m more with add-ons.
Sakho is a strong and composed defender who tends to give it his all when playing. Despite his unusual technique, Sakho has made a name for himself as a solid figure at the back, who is also capable of passing the ball out from the defense.
After the deal was completed, Sakho was quoted saying, “I am really happy to be here because I have some friends here. I loved the challenge last year; it was difficult but beautiful and it’s why this summer I thought that Palace was the best choice.
“I am really excited about playing for the Palace fans again, but in football, the past is the past and you need to think about today and tomorrow.”
Editor’s Take-
There is no denying that Sakho was being a total pain for the Reds and their German boss. However, the fact that needs to be highlighted here is that he looked defensively a bit more composed. He, in my opinion was better than some of the other centre-backs like Lovren and co. and things should have been sorted out between both the manager and his star.
If we look at the front-line of the Merseyside outfit this term, they are one of the best in England and another additional solid defensive star could have made the difference too. Yes, Liverpool have Van Dijk now, yet, he will still need time to settle into the team and honestly a player of the experience of the now Crystal Palace man, would have been really useful for Liverpool.
There are a lot of expectations from the Dutch centre-back, who moved to Anfield at the start of the New Year from Southampton. It will now be interesting to see whether he can live up to the hype or not and actually help Klopp win his first title with the Kops.
