Mamadou Sakho is not a happy man.
The Liverpool defender may be free to continue his club career after his doping charge was dismissed by Uefa, but the combative centre-half isn’t happy with the opportunities that the original allegation has cost him.
Sakho was forced into an impromptu career hiatus after European football’s governing body alleged he had failed a standard drugs test following Liverpool’s Europa League victory over Manchester United in March.
With a worldwide suspension of anything between six months and two years hanging over his head, he was forced to sit out Liverpool’s march to the Europa League final against Sevilla in Switzerland. Jurgen Klopp’s men lost 3-1 – but that was obviously without their first-choice defender.
The alleged use of a banned fat-burner also cost him his place in France’s Euro 2016 squad. Manager Didier Deschamps was forced to plan for the tournament without Sakho, in spite of key injuries to fellow defenders Raphael Varane and Jeremy Mathieu.
By the time the Anfield man’s provisional 30-day suspension had ended, Deschamps felt it was unfair on the players he had picked in Sakho’s absence to reinstall him to the squad. As he explained at the time:
“Seriously [bring back Sakho]? No. Or I have no respect for the players I selected. When I decided [on the squad] there was no evidence that the outcome would be positive, even if it needed confirmation.”
Now that Uefa have formally dropped all charges against the player and admitted that he did nothing wrong – the substance found in the defender’s system was not on WADA’s banned list – Sakho is reportedly considering legal action.
It won’t bring back the last two months of the 26-year-old’s career, but it would at least force Uefa to reconsider their current procedures.
