Liverpool's current pre-season tour of the United States is under way, but one of the club's previous trips Stateside was marred by a falling out between former manager Jurgen Klopp and ex-defender Mamadou Sakho, partly caught on camera. Sakho, who joined Liverpool in 2013 for £18 million from Paris Saint-Germain, was sent home early from the 2016 American tour after Klopp publicly called him out for breaking team rules.
The incident came to light when Sakho was handed a GoPro camera during a squad visit to Alcatraz prison in San Francisco. As Klopp was being interviewed, Sakho appeared behind him laughing. Klopp remarked, 'We could have left Mama Sakho here because he is filming me while I give the interview.' When Sakho responded, Klopp shot back, 'Only one of us came late last night, for departure in Liverpool. It was not me.'
Speaking later, Klopp explained the decision to send Sakho home: 'He nearly missed the departure of the plane, he missed a session and was late for a meal. We have some rules and we have to respect them.' Sakho later admitted his lateness in a French interview, saying he paid a fine, apologised, and accepted the sanction. However, the incident proved the breaking point; Sakho was demoted to the Under-23s and never played for the senior side again.
In January 2017, Sakho joined Crystal Palace on loan, making the move permanent that summer for £25 million. He left Palace in 2022 and later played for Montpellier and Torpedo Kutaisi before retiring earlier this year. The 36-year-old's Liverpool career never fully recovered after the pre-season fallout.
