Paul Merson has said Jurgen Klopp is so important to Liverpool that the club would rather lose Mohamed Salah than the German.
Liverpool began the long goodbye to Klopp in style as Virgil van Dijk’s header in the final moments of extra-time secured Carabao Cup glory for a threadbare Reds side at Wembley, an achievement the German described as the most special of his career.
Klopp was without 10 first-team players at kick-off and that increased to 11 by the 28th minute as Ryan Gravenberch was carried off on a stretcher, adding to the significant absences of Salah, Darwin Nunez, Dominik Szoboszlai, Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones and Trent Alexander-Arnold, as well as goalkeeper Alisson.
Only five Liverpool players from their 4-1 win over Chelsea at Anfield less than four weeks ago started at Wembley, while the bench contained six academy graduates aged 21 and under. When the match finished, 18-year-old Jayden Danns, 19-year-olds James McConnell and Bobby Clark as well as Harvey Elliott (20) and Jarell Quansah (21) were out on the field for Liverpool. Conor Bradley (20) had started in defence.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Merson described Klopp as “priceless” to Liverpool and believes if they had a choice, they’d rather keep him at the club beyond the end of the season over talisman Salah, who has scored 205 goals for club and helped them win seven major honours since joining in 2017 from Roma.
“However, you just have to see what happened at Wembley on Sunday to see Klopp’s importance to Liverpool. He’s phenomenal.
“I was at Wembley and said right after the final whistle that it was the greatest achievement Klopp has ever had in football. Later on, he came out and said it.
“If you are Liverpool, you’d rather lose Salah than Klopp. Don’t get me wrong, Salah is one of the best players in the world. However, you just have to see what happened at Wembley on Sunday to see Klopp’s importance to Liverpool.”
