Jurgen Klopp is one of the best football managers of the modern generation, but he has fallen out with several superstars throughout his time with Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund.
The German boss is renowned for the close relationships he has with his players, although sometimes wires can be crossed and he can end up on the wrong side of them.
We’ve gone back through Klopp’s career so far and have picked out six players that he’s fallen out with over the years.
Mohamed Salah
On the whole, Salah and Klopp seem to have a close relationship, but sometimes their personalities can clash with one another.
That was the case in Liverpool’s latest Premier League outing against West Ham as the Egyptian forward had a heated exchange with Klopp on the sidelines prior to being substituted.
Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock described the argument as a “clash of egos” on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“You have two people who are equally important to the football club,” Warnock said. “The connection between the two has to be of respect, and respect how they have helped each other’s careers.
“With Mo Salah being pushed out a little bit, he doesn’t like that.”
When discussing the incident with reporters after the game, Klopp confirmed that he spoke to Salah in the dressing room which hopefully puts an end to the beef.
“We spoke already in the dressing room. For me, that’s done,” Klopp confirmed.
Mamadou Sakho
Signed under Brendan Rodgers, it didn’t take that long until Sakho was shown the exit door by Klopp. After showing up late to numerous meetings, the French defender was sent home early from Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the USA in 2016.
“He missed the departure of the plane, he missed a session and then was late for a meal … I have to build a group here, I have to start anew, so I thought it maybe made sense that he flew home to Liverpool,” Klopp told reporters in 2016.
Unsurprisingly, Sakho never played another game under Klopp after his pre-season antics. He spent the first half of the 2016-17 season playing for the reserves before then joining Crystal Palace on loan.
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Lazar Markovic
Klopp inherited Markovic upon his arrival at Anfield and the Serbian winger wasn’t best pleased with how his exit from the club was handed.
“It’s to show that I’m still the same player, to show the people at Liverpool that they can’t treat me that way,” Markovic told Belgian newspaper DH when he joined Anderlecht on loan in 2018.
“Yes, it’s okay to take it personally when you are not let go because they’re asking for an unrealistic transfer amount.”
Mario Balotelli
Balotelli’s time at Liverpool feels like a fever dream these days. The Italian forward never got much of a chance under Klopp and after being left out of Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the United States, he soon headed for the exit door.
Things got particularly juicy when Balotelli’s agent at the time, Mino Raiola, branded Klopp “a piece of shit” over the way he’d handled his client.
Balotelli himself later admitted: “Klopp does not know me and I do not know him. I was back in Liverpool a month and a half and I spoke to him once.
“He explained to me that I could stay there but I was not his first choice and he told me it was better if I went somewhere else.
“If I got games, did well, I could come back but I said goodbye and thank you, and that we wouldn’t be seeing each other again.”
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Nuri Sahin
During his early days at Borussia Dortmund, Klopp had a training ground bust-up with Sahin after the Turkish midfielder had started an argument with another player.
“It was either 2009 or 2010, I was playing for Borussia Dortmund and the coach threw me out of training. He told me to leave because I had an argument with another player,” Sahin told GOAL.
“I was young and I thought I knew everything. I was sure I was in the right, 100 per cent, but he told me to go, so I went.”
Xherdan Shaqiri
The Swiss winger found himself on the wrong side of Klopp after Liverpool were dumped out of the League Cup by Chelsea in 2018.
Once the full-time whistle had blown, the Reds boss stormed over to Shaqiri and the pair were seen exchanging some heated words with one another.
“I spoke about a free-kick – the last one,” Klopp explained after the game. “Mo was standing wide and a whole bunch of players were in one direction where we shot the ball.
“If he could have played in Mo on a one-on-one situation in the last minute of the game it would have been not too bad. It was only about the free-kick, nothing else.”
Thankfully, the pair smoothed things over in the end.
