Former Liverpool forward Sadio Mane looks set to become latest high-profile player to move to Saudi Arabia
Sadio Mane appears to be denied a reunion with Liverpool this summer, a year after his departure from the Reds.
The Senegalese, who scored 120 goals in 269 appearances in six seasons at Anfield, won all the major honors with Liverpool before moving to Bayern Munich last summer. However, his time in Bavaria seems to be ending prematurely.
Fabrizio Romano reports that the 31-year-old is set to become the latest high-profile player to move to Saudi Arabia, in a deal between Al-Nassr and Bayern. As a result, Mane will miss his former club in Singapore, while Liverpool take on the German giants on Wednesday (August 2).
Indeed, the Senegalese international’s imminent departure comes as no surprise given his waning fortunes in Monaco during the second half of last season. The forward would go on to make 38 appearances for Bayern in all competitions, 27 from the start and 25 in the Bundesliga. However, a leg injury, requiring surgery, saw him miss more than three months of the season and he was ruled out of the mid-season World Cup.
He would later be deemed surplus to requirements by new manager Thomas Tuchel, with writing on the wall for Mane as he allegedly punched teammate Leroy Sane in the face following Bayern’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League League last season. Both on the pitch and after the final whistle, the two were seen arguing and the confrontation continued in the dressing room.
Sane was then reported to have been seen with a bloody lip following the altercation, with reports suggesting their teammates had to separate the pair in the dressing room. Mane, who scored 12 goals for his new club, was later fined £250,000 and given a one-game ban by Bayern for missing the 1-1 draw with Hoffenheim. And although he will return to the starting XI next time and even score when Bayern lost 3-1 to Mainz, he ultimately finished the season on the fringes of Tuchel and was an unused substitute when they reclaimed the title from the Bundesliga picked up on the last day of the season.
This title was to be his only major victory for the German team which lost in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and the DFB-Pokal. A disappointing season, despite winning an eleventh consecutive title, Munich managed the essentials.
As a result, Mane’s problems at Bayern mean Liverpool will not receive the maximum transfer fee of £35million agreed upon when the Senegalese was sold last summer. The Reds were initially paid £27.5m, with a further £5m due based on stakes, and £2.5m were also due in individual and team performance-based supplements.
How much of that extra £7.5million will be due to Liverpool is debatable.
Bayern’s initial offer was valued at £21.5million, with the offers dismissed as “ridiculous”. They totaled just over £4m and were all based on individual and team performance. The Times reported that the Reds would only receive the full fee if Munich won the Champions League and the player won the Ballon d’Or every season on a three-year contract.
While Mane’s commitment to club and country in 2022 crowned him runners-up for the Ballon d’Or last year, it’s safe to say he will be far from contention this year. In the meantime, it’s highly unlikely he’ll have activated all of his gig-based add-ons ahead of a potential summer departure.
In terms of team performance, Bayern at least won the Bundesliga title last year, even though they trailed in the Champions League. If Mane leaves, it would depend on the specific agreement between the two clubs whether Liverpool would still be entitled to bonuses if such achievements were made without the striker during the term of his initial three-year contract.
As a result, the Reds may have paid a fraction of that £5m in stakes-based extras, on top of the initial £27.5m fee, while the rest of that total fee, as well than the final £2.5 million, based on singles. and Team Achievements, inaccessible. While Liverpool agreed a £35m package which guaranteed they would sell the striker at a profit, the reality is they will receive less than the £34m they paid Southampton for the Senegalese in 2016.
If Mane completes his transfer to Al-Nassr, he will become the youngest Reds player to move to Saudi Arabia, following in the footsteps of Roberto Firmino, Jordan Henderson, Steven Gerrard and Robbie Fowler, with Fabinho expected to join soon. Therefore, next week in Singapore, he will reunite with at least three of his former teammates in the Gulf state in the Saudi Pro League, if not the rest of Klopp’s Liverpool squad. Meanwhile, Al-Nassr’s new teammates include David Ospina, Alex Telles, Marcelo Brozovic, Seko Fofana, Talisca and Cristiano Ronaldo.
