Liverpool will get a new captain following Jordan Henderson’s departure and Mohamed Salah has previously expressed disappointment at being overlooked for the post
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is to oversee club captaincy changes this summer, having previously had to explain to Mohamed Salah why he is being overlooked.
Long-serving Reds captain Jordan Henderson has completed his move to Saudi Arabian club Al-Ettifaq, following the departure of vice-captain James Milner, who ended his long spell at Anfield with a move to Brighton.
Henderson’s old Reds team-mate Fabinho is also on the verge of a move to the Middle East, with a deal agreed with Saudi champion Al-Ittihad. Al-Ettifaq will pay around £13m for Henderson, who finished his trophy-laden 12 years at Merseyside.
“He’s sad, absolutely strange, because he’s the only captain I’ve had here at Liverpool,” admitted Klopp, greeting the midfielder with emotion. The German coach must now oversee the changes in the club’s management group.
Virgil van Dijk is the standout candidate for captaincy for his leadership and influence, having been the third choice for the role in recent years behind Henderson and Milner. Joe Gomez has also symbolically captained the team, being their veteran player, but his place in the starting XI is far from assured.
It is unclear who will make up the new management group, although Andy Robertson captained the side twice last season – against Brighton in the FA Cup and in a Premier League clash with Wolves.
Other suitors include Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Salah, but the Egyptian was ‘very disappointed’ with Klopp’s decision not to present him with the armband in the 2020 Champions League clash with Midtjylland. “Honestly, I was very disappointed,” Salah told Diario AS after the match, which saw Van Dijk, Alisson, Henderson and Robertson all unavailable. “I expected to be the captain. But it’s the manager’s decision, so I accept it.”
Klopp instead tasked Alexander-Arnold with walking out of his team that night and explained how to explain the decision to Salah later. However, the boss admitted he made a mistake, as it should have been Divock Origi who captained as he was the club’s longest serving player to start.
“I’ve been captain for a long time in my career, and it’s a great job, because there’s not a lot of perks you get, just a lot of work with all the stuff around it,” Klopp said after that decision. . “I didn’t feel or I don’t feel how important it is to be captain.”
“I’ve been a captain for a long time in my career and what a hell of a job that is because you don’t get a lot of benefits, just a lot of work with everything that comes with it,” Klopp said in the press release. after the decision. “I didn’t feel or I don’t feel how important it is to be captain.”
“Yes, we have a captain like Hendo and that’s important, but being a captain for a game. I didn’t realize how important that could be for players because in this world now everything is a big story. . I had no idea it was going to be such a big story for Trent. The rule here is that there is a players’ committee and it consists of Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Virgil van Dijk and Gini Wijnaldum.
Klopp added: “So I didn’t complicate it, I just gave the armband to Trent. And I told Mo about it after the game and when I realized it wasn’t working so well. , I clarified it and he repeated it in the interview so no problem for me.
“He said he was disappointed and I didn’t do it on purpose, I just did what I did.” If I made a mistake, it was that Divock Origi wasn’t the captain.”
