Jurgen Klopp says he has “no worries” over Mohamed Salah’s future at Liverpool despite the winger saying he was “devastated” about failing to qualify for the Champions League.
Salah posted his comments on social media shortly after Manchester United’s 4-1 win over Chelsea on Thursday which denied Liverpool a top-four finish.
Klopp’s side will finish fifth and play in next season’s Europa League
“Mo loves being here and Mo was part of it,” Klopp said on Friday.
“He said apologies for what ‘we’ did – not apologies for ‘what the other guys did, but I had to go with them’. It is all fine.”
The Egypt international said on Twitter on Thursday: “There’s absolutely no excuse for this. We had everything we needed to make it to next year’s Champions League and we failed.
“We are Liverpool and qualifying to the competition is the bare minimum. I am sorry but it’s too soon for an uplifting or optimistic post. We let you and ourselves down.”
Salah, who signed a new three-year contract – worth more than £350,000 a week – with Liverpool last summer, has scored 19 league goals this season.
Asked whether he was concerned about Salah’s future at the club following the 30-year-old’s social media comments, the Liverpool manager said: “No worries, no. I only heard what he said but I couldn’t read anything that could lead in that direction.
“If ever a player would come to me and said, ‘oh, we didn’t qualify for the Champions League, I have to leave’, I would drive him to the other club myself.
“I would take the key, [and say]: ‘come in the car, where do you want to go, I drive you’.”
United only needed a point at home to Chelsea in the penultimate game of their season to confirm their Champions League place.
Liverpool won seven of their past eight games in a late push for fourth place, but could not make up for their inconsistent run of form in the first half of the season.
Klopp said the squad is still “really united” despite the disappointment of missing out on the last Champions League qualification spot.
“We didn’t point fingers at each other. That’s all good. If you don’t qualify for the Champions League, the best place you can possibly end up is fifth, so that’s what we did,” he said before Liverpool visit Southampton on Sunday.
“If you’d have asked me 10 games ago if that was possible, I’d have said no. That the boys did that is really good but it’s not perfect.
“We didn’t end up fifth because of the last 10 games, we ended up there because of the lack of consistency before that.”