Jurgen Klopp Discusses Mamadou Sakho's Attitude and Exit from Liverpool Tour

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that he sent Mamadou Sakho home from the Reds' pre-season tour in the United States because he failed to "respect" the club's rules.

Per Dominic King for MailOnline, the injured Sakho was ordered to return to Liverpool on Monday after a number of transgressions.

He was late for the team's flight from Liverpool's John Lennon Airport to San Francisco at the start of the tour, then missed a treatment session at the club's U.S. base in Palo Alto, California, and finally turned up late again for a team meal.

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Klopp hinted that the 26-year-old is unlikely to be hit with a fine for his ill-discipline and insisted there was no argument when he told Sakho to return to Liverpool, but indicated he had little choice but to send him home, per King:

"

I have to build a group here, we have to start new. So I thought maybe it made sense to fly home to Liverpool and after eight or ten days, then we will come back and we will see how it is. We have some rules and you have to respect them.

If someone hasn’t—or gives me the feeling of not respecting—then we have to react. That’s all. How he took it is private but there was no argument. It wasn’t, "You this, you that." I spoke, just one of us, that’s all. You can’t have an argument when only one is speaking. I was the only one speaking. He missed a session and even injured players have a session.

I am not interested in the money of the players. It’s not often I have had to fine players, that doesn’t interest me. Money doesn’t interest me, it never helps, but it’s not that I don’t care. And it’s not that they don’t care about money either.

In the moment it hurts but after a while it doesn’t. I want them to do things because they want to do them.

"

The German manager—who is preparing for his first full season as Liverpool boss—also reportedly took issue with Sakho interrupting an interview he was doing when the team visited Alcatraz as part of their California tour, provided below by PaddyPower:

Frenchman Sakho was set to take no part in Liverpool's tour games against Chelsea and AC Milan due to an Achilles injury that will see him miss the start of the Premier League season.

However, Klopp clearly was eager that his squad prepare together for the new term whether injured or not.

Sakho recently escaped an expected lengthy ban after UEFA dismissed a doping case against him following a failed drugs test, per BBC Sport.

As arguably the Reds' best centre-back last term, he is likely to partner new signing Joel Matip in the middle of Klopp's back four in the 2016-17 campaign, per Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe:

Sakho clearly has some work to do, though, to convince Klopp that he has the right attitude.

With Ragnar Klavan also having been bought by Liverpool in the summer transfer window—and Dejan Lovren already a key part of the squad—the Reds' centre-back group is stronger than it was last season.

If Klopp feels Sakho does not merit a call-up to the first team, he has other options at his disposal, and the France international will likely have to conduct himself with more discipline in future if he is to keep his place in the side.