After falling out of favour with Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, Mamadou Sakho ensured he won’t be short of suitors in the summer with a string of fine performances whilst on loan at Crystal Palace.
Sakho only made eight appearances for the Eagles but still did enough to earn a nomination for the club’s Player of the Season award.
According to The Guardian, Liverpool will seek at least £30 million for the Frenchman, a price they no doubt reached after Sakho helped Palace steer clear of relegation.
Sakho and Klopp clashed after the centre-back broke club rules on a pre-season tour of the United States.
"It is true that I turned up late,” Sakho explained, per Sky Sports. “There was a rule that I should have observed. I do not at all see myself as above the rules, I respect everyone.
"I paid my fine, I was sanctioned, I apologised to my team-mates and my manager. Aside from that… I do not want to go into the controversies.”
His apologies weren’t enough to stop Klopp from sending him to Selhurst Park and there is no way back for the former Paris Saint-Germain player.
When Sakho played in goal
Sakho faced the unusual position of finding himself in goal during a PSG match.
It came in 2013, when the Parisiens travelled to Lorient. Alphonse Areola started in goal for Carlo Ancelotti’s side but was replaced in the second half by Ronan Le Crom.
Nobody could have foreseen Le Crom being sent off for a challenge inside the box on Lorient’s Julian Quercia, but that’s exactly what happened.
Ancelotti turned to Sakho, who played the final seven minutes as a goalkeeper.
And his first task was to try to stop a penalty. Check out how Sakho fared below.
Of course he didn’t save the penalty. Did you really think he would?
Palace are put off by £30m price tag
Sakho’s £30m price tag has put Crystal Palace off from making his loan spell a permanent one.
“I think that is going to be a very difficult one for us to do,” Palace chairman Steve Parish said, per the Liverpool Echo. “I think Liverpool want a big number for him.
“That is a tough one to make happen on a permanent basis. We need to look at the budgets and be realistic.”