The United States Department of Defense has confirmed they had to send Mamadou Sakho home for “seriously compromising national security”.

At a time of high alert worldwide, US officials said they couldn’t afford to have the Liverpool defender anywhere near them.

Keen to avoid another Cold War scenario, the Pentagon asked Reds boss Jürgen Klopp to send Sakho home from the club’s pre-season tour.

Arlington County top brass are also thought to be closely monitoring Dejan Lovren as they assess the full extent of the danger.

With 3.1 million employees, the US Department of Defense is thought to be the largest employer in the world.

But concern had grown that even their best efforts could all be undone by a single momentary lapse in Sakho’s concentration.

Speaking exclusively to Football Burp, Klopp pledged his full cooperation to any continuing investigations.

He said: “Hopefully the potential for breached defence is much lower now with Sakho sent home.

“We saw what happened in Turkey within hours of Martin Škrtel joining Fenerbahçe, so we understand what’s at stake here.

“The only thing we refuse to comply with the Americans over is their spelling of ‘defence’. It’s just weird.”