by Trent Alexander-Arnold looks away from his youth club this summer, with Liverpool’s vice captain apparently approaching Real Madrid for a free transmission when his contract works. It is a surreal concept when you consider that the English international never shyly has his ambitions to become one day Reds captain and regularly admitted that he lives his dream in Angeld.
The 26-year-old has won every big award with Liverpool and would like to leave as a two-time Premier League champion. He will leave at a time when the red ones are in a position of the strength.
None of the local heroes of Liverpool in the Premier League -ära could ever say that they were in such a scenario.
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Regardless of whether they stayed loyal like Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, decided on pastures with Real Madrid like Steve McManaman and Michael Owen or how Robbie Fowler were forced, the Red crawled to withdraw their place under the elite of European football when such players were in their ranking lists.
It is one thing that is seduced by larger prices elsewhere, but a different matter if they are already offered to them in Angeldd.
While Liverpool’s native stars from yesterday may not be able to be able to fully able, it is a different story for some of their foreign contingents.
Mamadou Sakho was only 23 years old when he came to the Reds in September 2013 in an 18 million pound deal in his youth club Paris Saint-Germain. Last season with the Parisians, he won the Ligue 1 title.
He even served as a captain of the majority of his PSG career, while the Ligue-1 giants entered a new dominance period in 2011. When he conquered France.
But Sakho missed most of this success. Instead, he opted for pastures that are new in Liverpool and went away from his youth club. A former Reds star of Barcelona and Bayern Munich In the summer of 2013 of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, also played a crucial role in the French decision.
“When I came to Liverpool, it was of course my choice,” he said in an exclusive interview with the echo. “Because I had different offers at the time. I had Barcelona, I had Arsenal, I had Bayern Munich.
“But yes, I really wanted to play for Liverpool because I knew the story. I knew that the stadium was incredible.
“And I remember that Nicolas Anelka told me when I was young. He said:” If you have the chance to play and move to Great Britain, Liverpool is one of the best.
“So yes, it was a natural choice for me because I supported Liverpool in Great Britain when I was young.
“Of course (it was difficult to leave PSG), but you know it is part of life. The street is right for me. I think it was my fate.
“Paris was my club, but I did what I had to do with Paris. And it was something on my street. It was Liverpool and I did what they had to do with Liverpool. I really enjoyed my time there.”
PSG won Ligue 1, Coupé de la Lige and Trophhee des Champion and also reached the Champions League quarter -finals, while Sakhos first season with Liverpool, after signing Edinson Cavani, Marquinhos, Yohan Cabaye and Lucas Digne. These arrivals followed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, David Beckham, Marco Verratti, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Lucas Moura and Gregory van der Wiel when they signaled their intent.
But Sakho came to an excruciating one to win his own league title with the Reds. If not for a Steven Gerrard against Chelsea, who knows what could have been in 2013/14.
“Of course we were disappointed,” he said. “I think we gave everything and yes, it was really difficult for us not to win this title. But sometimes it is part of football.
“Yes, this type of thing (Gerrard’s slip) can happen. But with legend Steven Gerrard, what he did for us first. When we came to the club, he was really warm. He is a really top man.
“And what he did for the club, of course I think we can accept a mistake. Ten mistakes, even 100 mistakes from him, you know, because I think when you hear Liverpool, Steven always follows. With Liverpool you think immediately, Steven Gerrard.
“I was sad (when I found out that he was leaving in 2015). I think he played in his garden (in Anfield), and I think the whole city was sad, but also proud.
“Proud of everything he has achieved with the club, everything he did, and I hope he will come back one day. And I’m sure he will come back.”
MAN City would ultimately spend Liverpool in the title of the Premier League 2013/14, but this campaign is one of the years in which they are currently being examined for suspected financial violations.
But Sakho is not interested in the fact that the title has been re -assigned when the city was found guilty, even if it made it a late Premier League champion.
“What to do? This is football, you know. You can’t write a new story,” he said. “What has passed. What should be done from now on?
“You know, now, how many years later, this is only part of the story. We just have to look forward and it is.”
After Gerrard’s departure in summer 2015, Sakho was given the opportunity to bring Captain Liverpool in a Europa League match in Bordeaux in his homeland France in Bordeaux. He sees it as one of the proudest moments of his red career.
“Of course it was something special for me. I was really happy,” he recalled. “The manager came to me the day before the game and he told me that he would give me the captain’s bracelet.
“And I said:” Okay, no problem. I take my responsibility. “I used to be a captain since I was 13 years old.
“But to have this captain in Liverpool, it was something very special and I really appreciated it. It means that the entire team trusted me. They knew that I was a fighter. I never always give up on the field.
“It was a good responsibility. But I just remain who I am with the captain’s bracelet or without her. I played with all my determination for Liverpool.”
A few weeks later, Brendan Rodgers would lose his job as a Liverpool manager after having not reversed the red fortune after a dark campaign in 2014/15 after the sale of Luis Suarez. Jürgen Klopp came in his place, with Sakho admitted that the German changed the mentality in Angeld.
“I think every season is different. They always have new players and they have to adapt,” he said. “The season after (2013/14) was more difficult for us. But we do our best.
“And it was a new team, everything was new. So we had to build a new ambience in the squad and everything.
“I think we are players, we just have to concentrate on what the manager wants from us. It was a decision of the club, so we just had to accept it and be happy. This is football.
“Sometimes the manager has to go because the club is not happy. Sometimes some players have to go because the club is not happy. So what can they do?
“They just build one family and sometimes they have a brother who has to leave the house, but they just have to live on.
“Klopp came with a new mentality. A completely different way of playing. And yes, we were happy to work with him, and we were all concentrated on what he wanted.
“I think he immediately showed himself in his first season as if we went to the final in the Europa League and we also perform well in the league.”
In the end, Sakho would never win a trophy with Liverpool, although the Reds reached the final of the League Cup and the Europa League final after Klopp’s arrival.
The Frenchman started the former, but was forced after 25 minutes after suffering a head injury. Sakho revealed his frustration that Liverpool lost out of punishments against Man City.
“I was so sad. That’s why I was so angry. But it’s football again, do you know?” he said. “I was ready for this game. I was ready for Kun Aguero.
“We had a few days before I said that I will eat this game, do you know what I mean? So I was so determined to play a strong game.
“But yes, that happened and I had to go out because it can be dangerous for myself. But yes, it was only my determination if I was out of this game. But there is no choice. I had to respect the rules, the medical rules.”
After Sakho’s career in Liverpool ultimately ends under a cloud, his transfer of £ 18 million did not work as hoped, despite his best efforts.
But he believes that he was a better player for representing the red and believes that he made a lasting impression on a former teammate in particular.
“I played with an incredible generation, many, many good players,” he said. “(Raheem) Sterling was a really good player. Daniel Sturridge, (Philippe) Coutinho know, there were many, many.
“Steven Gerrard, of course, Mario Balotelli, when he came, Jordan Henderson, (Luis) Suarez, we had really good players at that time.
“Suarez was a very, very hard player to play. But I think at that time he also remembered training because I think I was not an easy defender that I could play against!
“And yes, we had a few good battles. Sometimes he won and sometimes I win. So it was good. Best moments.
“I really enjoyed my time in Liverpool. It is different if you see someone on TV and when you train with him every day. You understand why you are on the highest level.
“A hard worker works every day. And they got some quality, really, very incredible. I learned a lot by playing next to them.”
