Jürgen Klopp has revealed he sent Mamadou Sakho home because of a lack of “respect” from the player.

The Liverpool manager cut the defender from his squad, currently on a pre-season tour of the Unites States, after he was late for meetings on three separate occasions.

Klopp decided to put his foot down with the France international, saying he will refuse to allow any player to disrupt the spirit within the touring party.

The German manager said: “It’s not that serious. He missed the departure of the plane, he missed a session and then was late for a meal … I have to build a group here, I have to start anew, so I thought it maybe made sense that he flew home to Liverpool and after eight days, when we come back, we can talk about it.

Was Mamadou Sakho's mock interview too much for Liverpool's Jürgen Klopp? Read more

“But it’s not that serious. It is how I said, we have some rules and we have to respect them. If somebody doesn’t respect it, or somebody gives me the feeling he is not respecting it, then I have to react, that’s all.”

There was no falling out but Klopp revealed he was disappointed with the player’s attitude around the training camp in Palo Alto, which came to a head with a pointed exchange on a trip to Alacatraz.

On the conversation, following the Alacatraz incident, Klopp said: “It is private, how he reacted. But we had no argument. I spoke. You cannot argue when only one person is speaking, that’s all. Even injured players have sessions, that’s all.”

The 26-year-old will sit down with Klopp next week when Liverpool return home but the manager is not a fan of fines.

“Fine him? You can ask, and I can explain it in general. I am not interested in the money of the players. Actually, not really often in my life I have had to fine anybody, because I want that we learn together to do the thing that is right,” Klopp said.

“Always it is the same with every group. I don’t like fining. Sometimes it’s funny, when the fine is bullshit. Come on, pay for it, that’s nice. But mistakes, fining never helps.

Pre-season friendly roundup: Crystal Palace and Sunderland seal wins Read more

“It’s not because they care about money, it’s always, yeah in the moment it hurts, but after a while not. So I want them to do the things because they want to do it, that’s all.”

Klopp was speaking ahead of Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat to Chelsea in their International Champions Cup match at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles.

Gary Cahill got the only goal of the game in the 10th minute, heading in a Cesc Fàbregas corner. The Spaniard experienced a mixed evening given he was sent-off with 20 minutes remaining for a late challenge on Liverpool’s new defender Ragnar Klavan. Cahill was also booked, as were Liverpool’s Alberto Moreno, Ovie Ejaria, Marko Grujic, Dejan Lovren and Kevin Stewart.

As well as Kavlan, Klopp gave starts to fellow recent arrivals Sadio Mane and Loris Karius in a match which was watched by more than 53,000 in California.

The closest his team came to a goal was in the 35th minute, when Roberto Firmino’s effort was ruled out for offside.