Liverpool’s Mamadou Sakho is expected to leave the club sooner rather than later but his parent club don’t seem to be letting him off that easily. It is being reported by Sky Sports that the Reds have rejected a loan bid by Southampton for the 26-year-old.

The media house also believes that the Merseyside club do not want to loan out the former Paris Saint-Germain defender and instead want to sell him off as soon as possible. The defender has failed to claim a starting spot under Jurgen Klopp and has spent time training with the U23 side.

The fall in grace of Sakho certainly has been well documented and his outbursts against Klopp and the team haven’t helped him reclaim a spot in the side, even with Joel Matip out of the team. Liverpool would be looking to get the maximum they can from the sale of Sakho and the Frenchman could be leaving England in search of first team football.

The Saints, for their part, are more or less guaranteed to lose their captain Jose Fonte. The Portuguese defender has been linked with a move to West Ham after refusing to sign a new contract with Southampton.

Claude Puel certainly has a tough task on his hands to replace someone with the quality and experience of Fonte but Sakho would have been a great option, even for a loan deal to at least take the club to the end of the season.

The French manager, however, stated that he has no idea about this deal but did say that he knows Sakho very well:

“I know this player but I know nothing about this. It’s speculation. We have a reflection about this possibility to see another centre-back if Jose Fonte left.”

Sakho has not made a single appearance for the Premier League club this season and he was even withdrawn from Liverpool’s U23 team to play Manchester United. The 26-year-old has been linked with clubs such as Nice, Lille and even a return to PSG which does seem to be a good bet.

The Frenchman still has a few good years left in him but this episode at Liverpool would have left everyone with a bad taste. The career of the defender has been on a slide since he was suspended last season for substance abuse but was cleared from the same for UEFA.

Sakho was at one time the best defender that Liverpool had but now he is simply a dead weight and the Reds have to sell him off quickly to get back at least some value from his transfer.