Liverpool hero Phil Thompson seays selling Mamadou Sakho was a mistake.

Sakho is set to start for Crystal Palace against Manchester City.

“Our best defender at the start of this season has been allowed to leave," Thompson told Sky Sports.

“Mamadou Sakho was our best defender. He was a warrior, a fighter, a battler - all those things and you saw it at Crystal Palace last season.

“He was like that at Liverpool. I know there's fallouts in football all the time but somewhere along the line you can't cut off your nose to spite your face.

“He should have made up with the boy, ban him for three or four months and then bring him back in.

“And now you lose out to Van Dijk for whatever reason that happened so surely you would be keeping Sakho.

“Lovren is a good player, Matip's a good player, Klavan too, but they're not battlers."