Jurgen Klopp makes contract claim on Naby Keita and Mohamed Salah as Joel Matip Liverpool’s WhatsApp message is revealed
Jurgen Klopp insists ‘everything is fine’ around Mohamed Salah’s future at Liverpool as he hints talks are underway with Naby Keita over a new deal.
Salah’s current terms expire in the summer of 2023 and despite a number of public statements that he would like to extend his stay on Merseyside, the Egyptian remains on the same contract he signed in June 2018.
With 27 goals to his name this season, Salah has once again led the scoring charge for Liverpool with many defending him as the best player in the world at present due to his form for the Reds.
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Keita is another whose contract runs out next year and while Klopp once again played down the apparent standoff with Salah, he suggested talks have taken place with the Guinea international’s representatives.
“Naby’s future will be great,” Klopp said. “I know that because of the player he is.
“I understand these questions about the contracts but the club are in talks with all the agents and all the people.
“Until then it makes no sense [to speak further].
“Mo’s question, nothing new has happened, everything is fine, Mo is giving absolutely everything to the club.
“The club are in talks with all the agents and that’s how it should be.”
Klopp added: “I heard that if Naby played tomorrow it would be game 100, that’s an impressive number but it could have been more because he gets injured sometimes.
“When he thinks back to the way he played, he’s an exceptional footballer, that’s why we brought him in in the first place.
“Out of those 100 games, I think 80 were really good.”
Meanwhile, Klopp has detailed the team’s reaction to the news that Joel Matip has been awarded the Premier League Player of the Month for February.
Matip played every minute for the Reds in the Premier League last month, scoring his first goal of the season in Leeds’ 6-0 hammering, while helping the side to three clean sheets and four wins.
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Klopp revealed that a photo message from Thiago Alcantara in the team’s WhatsApp group broke the news to the rest of the squad.
“The player of the month!” Klopp said of Matip. “It was awesome.
“Before training we have a meeting and not everyone knew about it, so I only saw somewhere Thiago put a picture in the group where [Matip] had a trophy.
“So I asked if it was really true. It was similar to the celebrations after the Carabao Cup!
“Joel is a very famous figure in the group. He obviously doesn’t make a lot of headlines.
“I’m not too fond of individual awards for football players, but I think if anyone is going to win it, it makes sense that it should be Joel.
“Who votes for Player of the Month, is it his mum? I criticize the Premier League quite often but they make worse decisions.
“He’s definitely underrated. There’s one person on this planet who doesn’t care if we all underestimate him, and that’s Joel Matip.
“He doesn’t realize it. He doesn’t think I should have any other status, not at all, that’s why everyone was so happy.”