NewsMamadou Sakho announces retirement from football

The Frenchman joined the Reds from Paris Saint-Germain in September 2013 having emerged through the youth ranks of his hometown club, where he was captain and a Ligue 1 champion.

Sakho made 19 appearances during his debut season at Anfield as Brendan Rodgers’ team launched a surprise Premier League title bid and ultimately finished second.

A first goal for Liverpool came in the December of that year, in a 4-1 home win over West Ham United.

There were 27 outings for Sakho across all competitions in 2014-15 and then 34 games in the next campaign as Jürgen Klopp took over in the dugout from Rodgers.

He was a scorer in the unforgettable 4-3 comeback victory against Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League quarter-final of April 2016 and also in a Merseyside derby success that same month.

The latter would prove to be his final match for the Reds, however.

An alleged anti-doping violation, which was later overturned, curtailed his season and prevented him from being involved as Klopp’s team were beaten by Sevilla in the Europa League final.

Sakho fell out of favour in the summer that followed and he left on loan to join Crystal Palace in January 2017. That move was subsequently made permanent and he remained at Selhurst Park until 2021.

After a spell in France with Montpellier, the centre-back represented Georgian outfit Torpedo Kutaisi most recently.

At international level, Sakho gained 29 senior caps for his country.

He officially hangs up his boots ahead of turning 36 next month.