Liverpool transfers: Forgotten man Sakho completes surprise move to Georgian league

Forgotten Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho has completed a shock move to Georgian top-flight side Torpedo Kutaisi. 

The 34-year-old Frenchman will be working under former Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean at a club who are currently second in the Erovnuli Liga. 

Sakho hasn’t played since October 2023, in a game for Montpellier away at Lorient, his only game of last season. 

Having fallen out with Montpellier coach Michel Der Zakarian, Sakho cut ties with the club in November, becoming a free agent. 

The pair clashed during a training session with the manager alleged to have called Sakho a ‘cry baby’ after reportedly not giving a free kick for a challenge which the former France international deemed a foul. 

He failed to find a new club in January and had been kicking his heels for eight months before the deal with Kutaisi materialised. 

Kutaisi have qualified for next season’s UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round, meaning Sakho will be strutting his stuff on the continental stage before long. 

He has agreed a one-year deal in Georgia, with the option of a further year. 

“The contract with Mamadou Sakho has been agreed,” a club statement read. 

“After Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Montpellier, the next club in Mamadou Sakho's career is Kutaisi Torpedo.

“The 34-year-old football player will arrive in Tbilisi on June 12 and undergo a medical examination. An official signing ceremony of the agreement is planned at New Vision University on June 13 at 15:00.

“Negotiations between Mamadou Sakho and Kutaisi Torpedo lasted for about two months and the parties agreed on all the details of his transfer. The player will not only help Kutaisi Torpedo to win titles, but he will be a kind of ambassador to the international football community.

“Mamadou Sakho will take an active part in the implementation of the club's economic projects, as well as in various public and charitable activities. He will also be involved in the development of the Kutaisi Torpedo Academy together with the manager of the club Steve Kean, will be a mentor of young players and a guarantor of their professional development.”

Sakho banished from Liverpool by Klopp

Sakho’s Liverpool career finished in acrimonious circumstances, being loaned to Crystal Palace in January 2017 before completing a permanent deal for £26 million in the following transfer period. 

He had been banished from the first-team picture under Jurgen Klopp, who sent him home early from a US pre-season tour after repeatedly breaching team regulations. 

Signed in the summer of 2013 for £18m from Paris Saint-Germain, Sakho went on to play 80 times for the Reds, scoring three goals.