‘A Challenge’—Jurgen Klopp Opens Up on Infamous Row With Mohamed Salah

No players has made more appearances under Jürgen Klopp than Mohamed Salah.

Jürgen Klopp (right) has opened up on the difficulties of managing Mo Salah (left). | OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images.

Jürgen Klopp has admitted it was “challenging” managing superstar winger Mohamed Salah at Liverpool, but insists they “never lost respect for each other’ despite some minor arguments.

Salah is the player Klopp has used most readily across his managerial career, selecting the Egyptian on 349 occasions and being thoroughly rewarded in those matches with 211 goals and 94 assists. However, there were still tensions in their relationship.

Klopp has confessed to engaging in disputes with Liverpool’s fabled No. 11, one such example occurring shortly before the German’s Anfield exit. In April 2024, a touchline spat between the pair at West Ham United stole headlines, Salah unhappy with being substituted into the match so late in proceedings.

Reflecting on his time coaching Salah following the recent announcement of the forward’s departure at the end of the current season, Klopp revealed: “Great teammate, great guy—not great company when he’s not scoring!

Salah and Klopp enjoyed some glorious times together. | Stuart Franklin/UEFA/Getty Images

“We criticize him for being selfish but then celebrate when he scores a goal after beating five men. We both know that we had these arguments, not big arguments. Like the one at West Ham, both of us, five seconds later, would have thought: ‘No, don’t do that in ­public, come on, rewind.’ Next morning it was already over, but it happens in public.

“We never lost respect for each other and that is what I really like. He didn’t like me for a second when I took him off after 87 minutes, and you think: ‘Why?’ The time with him and Sadio [Mané] together, they were a challenge, of course they were. Special players are a challenge. Tell me one who is not?”

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‘Irreplaceable’ Salah Will Be Sorely Missed

Mohamed Salah has transformed Liverpool. | Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Getty Images

Liverpool have the unenviable task of finding a successor to their all-time Premier League and Champions League top scorer at the end of the campaign, but Klopp believes the Reds will be unable to source a replacement for the winger.

“This specific kind of player is irreplaceable,” said the 58-year-old. “I’m not sure there is even another one existing out there. There are other people playing on that wing with different strengths and qualities but it is the numbers Mo produces—they are unmatched from that position.

“The numbers for a winger are ridiculous. For a striker they are pretty much unmatched. So, if it is impossible, why should you try?”

Liverpool will have to make some attempt to replace their attacking talisman after nine years of impeccable service, but an exorbitant fee might be required to acquire a capable heir to Salah’s golden throne.

Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise is considered one of the club’s most ambitious targets, but a summer deal looks incredibly unlikely, while RB Leipzig up-and-comer Yan Diomande is another on the club’s radar after an astonishing campaign.

Regardless of which summer signing takes over from Salah, they have an impossible assignment in trying to replicate his extraordinary output.

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