Mamadou Sakho signed for Liverpool in 2013 after spending a couple of seasons with Paris Saint-Germain, where he won two trophies. Those great performances eventually translated into a £18m deal to wear red and after that, he became a very important player in Anfield.
Sakho always demonstrated he was a reliable defender, even though he committed some mistakes in Liverpool defense, he was always confident in his game. Being a leader to his teammates, he even wore the Reds captain’s armband during both Brendan Rodgers’ and Jurgen Klopp’s periods in Liverpool.
Sakho, who is rated at €20.4 Million by the CIES Football Observatory, has defended the colors of his nation in World Cup 2014 and Eurocup 2016, where France was defeated by Portugal in front of their people. There are no doubts about Sakho’s quality, as the player has demonstrated he’s a stand out personnel, being partners with Raphael Varane in French defense since they both established themselves as starting defenders in their respective teams.
However, times and things change and Mamadou hasn’t been the exception of that rules, as everybody has been talking about his departure from Liverpool due to his scandal outside the field, or to not being used by Klopp lately, and everything looks like he’ll leave Liverpool in the next winter transfer window.
But not everything is bad for the French player, as he has received a lot of offers during this inactive period, and seeing the desire of Klopp to give the player on loan or just let him go, and the calls that Sakho has received from former teammates, make this issue even more interesting. We will take a look to three pretenders that Sakho has collected while he’s been inactive with Liverpool.
Nice:
This is the newest team that arrived in the race for Sakho’s services. Nice is a good option for the centre-back as they are Ligue 1 leaders and have a good staff, hence, it won’t be surprising if we see Sakho forming one of the hardest defense’s duos with Dante in the French team. In addition to that, Mamadou has been called out by Mario Balotelli, his former teammate in Liverpool.
Balotelli talked about the present of Sakho and his desire to bring the French to his current team.
“I speak with him from time to time. I said to him: ‘What a waste a player like you is not playing”, said the Italian striker.
“He has to leave. I said to him: ‘If you want, come to Nice.’ I am going to speak to him about it. In January, it would be good.”
Lille:
Another French team fighting to acquire the services of Sakho. However Lille is not going through it’s best moment, but there could be a really nice option for Sakho to bring his career back to life.
A couple of weeks ago, Didier Deschamps told him to leave Liverpool if he wants to keep his international career, and Lille would be a great team to rebuild the shape of Mamadou, so we’ll have to wait and see if they are really interested in the French.
Leicester City:
The current Premier League champions are also hunting Sakho. Mamadou will count with big opportunities if he goes to France, but it’s not a secret that Premier League is the most competitive league in the world. If the French defender wants to keep playing at a maximum level, he can find the right candidate to do it in Claudio Ranieri’s team.
Sakho has reportedly been scouting by other teams, such as West Ham United and Stoke City. Now, it’s up to him to decide where he will play next January.