Liverpool should have sold Roberto Firmino instead of Sadio Mane during last summer’s transfer window.
That’s the view of Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand. Speaking on his Vibe With Five podcast, Ferdinand bemoaned Liverpool’s decision to sell Mane to Bayern Munich.
“Why didn’t they just pay him [Mane] the money to stay?” he queired. “I think they let the wrong one go, they should’ve let Firmino go.”
“I just don’t understand how you let someone who is actually world-class at that moment in time, who ideally who would’ve liked to have stayed if you gave the contract he was looking for or something similar to what Salah got.
“I just can’t get my head around it, every Liverpool fan must be sat there thinking ‘wow, how have we let this slip through our hands, a player of that calibre?'”
Not really to be honest, Rio.
Liverpool answering the same old questions
This will continue to be a stick used to beat Liverpool with until their fortunes improve. Obviously, there’s no doubt that they’ve become a worse side since Mane left the club.
But is that because of the 30-year-old’s absence? No, absolutely and categorically not.
You can always tell those who watched Liverpool regularly over the last two years to those who have not. Those who have will surely be of the view that Mane was a fading force. He still had his moments, but he was nowhere close to the machine he was from 2017-2020.
Those who have not come out with things like Ferdinand’s statement here. On the face of it, Liverpool lost one of their most influential players over the modern era and got immeasurably worse. But it wasn’t that simple.
Mane’s exit reportedly wasn’t anything to do with money being offered, or not being offered. He purely wanted a new challenge after six years of winning everything at Liverpool. There’s not much you can do to stop that.
In terms of the Firmino suggestions, he was arguably more important to anyone of the Jurgen Klopp era. Had he been sold this summer and Liverpool fell to the same fate, these same questions would have been asked over his own sale. Only injuries have stopped Bobby from playing a bigger role these last two years. He deserves more respect.
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