As Kolo Toure gets closer to a deal with Celtic his departure from Liverpool becomes more mysterious.
When Jugen Klopp took over from Brendan Rodgers a 34-year-old defender in the final year of his contract wouldn’t have held much appeal.
Dropping further out of the picture as a new manager tries out different options would have seemed the obvious scenario but in the second half of the season the German picked Toure for 18 matches including both legs of the Europa League Final as well as the final against Seville held in Basel.
As Klopp makes his mark on Liverpool having tried and tested back up would seem logical but as he prepares for his first full season in charge at Anfield Toure is locked in talks to be re-united with Rodgers.
Towards the end of last season and with his contract ticking down Toure became a talking point at Liverpool, as recently as April it seemed like he had a future at Anfield.
The fans website This Is Anfield reported Klopp saying: “I haven’t spoken to Kolo until now, but I’ve heard a big part of Kolo’s future is with Liverpool.
“Everything is okay. When I came here Kolo had a few problems injury-wise, but now it looks good.
“He’s a very, very important player for us, even when he doesn’t play. One of the most impressive people I’ve met but it’s not the right surrounding to speak about the future of Kolo.”
Whether a serious conversation took place or not remains unknown but with Rodgers at Celtic it looks like Toure can look forward to a season as a first choice defender at Celtic.
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