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Jurgen Klopp has revealed he spoke to Mohamed Salah over the Egyptian’s frustration at missing out on the Liverpool captaincy for a game earlier this month.
But the Reds boss says Divock Origi is the player who really should have been upset with his decision.
Salah caused something of a stir when stating, in an interview with Spanish publication AS last week, that he had been “very disappointed” not to be handed the armband for Liverpool’s Champions League game away to FC Midtjylland on December 9.
Salah’s former international team-mate Mohamed Aboutrika followed that by saying that Salah was unhappy at Anfield and that he could be sold.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his side’s Premier League clash with West Brom, Klopp was happy to clarify that there was no issue between himself and Salah.
“I was captain for a long time during my career, and I often thought what a heck of a job it was,” Klopp said. “There were not a lot of benefits, just a lot of work with all the things around it.
“So I don’t feel the importance of being captain. Yes, we need one like Hendo [Jordan Henderson], that’s clear, but being captain for a game, I didn’t realise how important that can be for players. In this world, we make a big fuss about everything, and I didn’t realise it was that much a story for Trent or whatever.
“The rule here is, we have a players’ committee. Hendo wears the armband, and if he’s not playing then it’s Milly [James Milner]. If those two are not playing then it’s Virgil [van Dijk] and if all three are not playing, it’s Gini [Wijnaldum].
“If they all cannot play, then it’s usually the player who is longest at the club. And that was how I saw it in my understanding. Trent got it because he was longest at the club – professionally, not just his youth career.”