After departing from the Merseyside in the summer, Mario Balotelli now wants ex-teammate and Liverpool outcast Mamadou Sakho to join him at Nice. Jurgen Klopp decided that the Italian striker was surplus to his requirements and with ONGC Nice having shown interest, Balotelli was transferred to the French Ligue 1 side.
A change of scenery seems to have worked for the 26-year-old striker who has already scored six goals in the French top tier for Nice, proving that he still has it in him to be a world class player. With Klopp having frozen out Mamadou Sakho from the first team, Balotelli feels that a solid player like Sakho could be a great fit as his teammate at Nice.
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“I speak to him from time to time,” Balotelli told TF1. “What a waste a player like that doesn’t play. He’s one of the best defenders I’ve come across. He should play every game. He should leave. If he wants to come … I’m going to ask him. I’m really going to ask him. In January? It would be good,” he added.
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The France international was spectacular in the backline for Liverpool last season and was definitely part of Klopp’s first choice centre-back partnership. Sakho put in standout performances for Liverpool in the Europa League and scored a crucial goal for the Reds against Borussia Dortmund.
But once a favourite, Sakho is now in a position where he can’t even make the bench and has been forced to play with the Under-23’s despite being fully fit. Sakho’s antiques off the pitch and his questionable attitude has forced Klopp to leave him out of the first team.
Even the France national team coach Didier Deschamps feels that it would be better for Sakho’s career if he leaves the club.
“There has to be another solution for him to find another club in the January window, it would be a solution for him to find another club this winter,” admitted Deschamps.
Things are looking quite bleak for the defender at the moment with Liverpool looking devastatingly good and on top of the Premier League table. With Klopp having already brought in two centre-backs in the summer transfer window in the form of Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan, only a bad spell of injuries could give the Frenchman a chance in the team.
That is only if Klopp considers him to be a better option than Lucas Leiva or the now fit Joe Gomez. Only time will tell if Mamadou Sakho will ever get a second chance at being a part of the Klopp revolution that has already begun at Liverpool FC.
