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LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp has stated that Mohamed Salah had made known his intention for the club armband but following a vote among the squad, the Egyptian failed to find a place.
The Liverpool players instead picked their “captains” as Jordan Henderson, Virgil van Dijk and James Milner.
In fact, Salah was hardly considered for the armband as the players who came in next at the poll were Trent Alexander Arnold, Andy Robertson and Alisson Becker.
Liverpool were rocked by so many injuries last season and thus this move to appoint more captains just in case a similar situation arises this season.
Klopp said that the vote was taken before the Champions League match against Porto and that the three players “had stepped up”.
“Obviously we had a problem last year from time to time that so many players couldn’t play that we had no-one in the players’ committee available (to captain), so I thought it made sense to increase this group a little bit, and that’s what we did,” said Klopp.
With the decision made by the squad, players like Salah and others cannot feel aggrieved as it was a team decision.
Last December Salah had remarked he was “’very disappointed” not to have been given the armband for the Champions League match against FC Midtjylland when instead Klopp had chosen Alexander Arnold when fielding a weakened side after Liverpool had already booked their spot in the knockout stage.
Though disappointed Salah accepted the decision of the manager and went on to score in the 1-1 draw.
So far this season players who have captained Liverpool are Henderson, Milner and Van Dijk while Joe Gomez was given the armband for the League Cup tie against Norwich. – Agencies, October 2, 2021