After signing for Liverpool from Paris Saint-Germain in the final days of the summer transfer window of 2013, Mamadou Sakho has now made 17 appearances for the Reds. With the fee rumoured somewhere between £15 - £18 million, he was given the number 17 shirt and made his Premier League debut on the 16th of September in a 2-2 draw against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium. Prior to his debut, he was described by manager Brendan Rodgers as “a beast in training”, and on the 7th of December 2013 he scored his first goal for Liverpool against West Ham United in a 4-1 win at home. He started his footballing career at Paris FC in 1996, before moving to PSG in 2002 and made his league debut in October 2007 in which he also became the youngest player ever to captain a Ligue 1 club. He made 151 appearances for the senior team, scoring 7 goals.

Throughout this season there has been huge competition for places within the Liverpool back four due to the plethora of options Brendan Rodgers currently has. Players such as Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel, who arguably have more experience than the 24 year old Frenchman, have been putting in some excellent performances, and with youngsters such as Jon Flanagan battling his way through the ranks, Rodgers has been left with some difficult decisions to make. However, the Liverpool defence have struggled at times, making silly mistakes and despite the team having scored the most goals out of the current top 4 (96), they have also conceded the most (44).

Sakho has received some criticism this year for different aspects of his game, such as his occasional lack of composure and his bodily posture which results in him sometimes appearing uncomfortable on the ball. This may be due to the style of football Liverpool play, in which passing out from the back, as opposed to clearing it long up the pitch, is preferred. This results in the defenders finding themselves under pressure more often, and the odd mistakes are made. Interestingly, when compared to other key players in Liverpool’s defence, the statistics suggest otherwise, and with his pass completion percentage put up against that of Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Kolo Toure, he comes out on the top of the pile with 92%. He also has the highest percentage of tackles won (92%), and has only lost 2 out of the 22 tackles he has made this season. Surely these figures are enough to show that Mamadou Sakho is actually very good on the ball?

Being a left footed player, Sakho has played at both left-back and centre-half this year. With the loss of Jose Enrique from the squad for 67% of the season due to a knee injury, and Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel both proving why they deserve a place in the starting XI, the competition has been stronger than ever. He has had to adapt very quickly from the slower pace of Lique 1 to the English Premier League, with the statistics showing he has actually adapted rather well.

However, like many of the Liverpool players this season, Sakho suffered a tear in his tendon back in December 2013 which left him unable to play for several weeks up until March. This caused him to miss out on 31% of the season, and despite Liverpool having a large number of defenders, 5 of them have been injured for 30% of the season or more. Fortunately for Brendan Rodgers’ men, this hasn’t affected their title hopes too badly, as they now sit 5 points clear of main rivals Chelsea at the top of the table, and are challenging to win their first League title for 24 years. With only 3 games left to play, Mamadou Sakho will be hoping to help drive Liverpool to success, and complete his first season with the Reds with a Premier League title to his name.