There’s absolutely no chance of Liverpool bringing Sadio Mane back to Anfield this summer.
Mane has endured a nightmare first season with Bayern Munich. As a result of his poor form and off-field issues, there’s been suggestions that the 31-yeaar-old could even be sold just one year on from his £35m move.
Naturally, that has led to some calls for Jurgen Klopp to bring him back home to Merseyside. But according to journalist Neil Jones for CaughtOffside, that isn’t going to happen.
“I think there were a lot of times last season when I watched Liverpool and they missed Mane hugely, and I still think that,” Jones began. “I’m sure they could’ve got more out of him being at the club than they did from the £30-35m they got from selling him to Bayern. I think he’s far from finished as a player and he could’ve continued to have a positive impact at Liverpool.
“He won’t be coming back to Liverpool, I think we can safely rule that out, but his struggles at Bayern will make for an interesting situation this summer. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him back in the Premier League, with Newcastle recently linked with him.”
No Reds return for Mane
In reality, no Liverpool fan would have been expecting Mane to come back this summer. There was plenty of discussion last season that they desperately missed their former No.10, but the truth is that there’s no longer a spot for him in the team.
Luis Diaz had already taken over Mane’s position six months before his eventual exit. In the meantime, both Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo have been brought in, too.
Although none have yet hit the kind of goal scoring numbers that the Senegal legend did at Anfield, all three eventually could.
As tough as it might sound, Liverpool have moved on from Mane. They no longer need him.
Having said that, he does still have more to offer than he’s showing at Bayern. Even in his last half-season at Anfield, looking completely burned out, Mane was still getting goals.
More than that, it would probably give the whole Reds squad a boost to see a familiar face back again. We saw yesterday how pleased Mane was at meeting Alisson whilst on international duty. He’s clearly still a very popular man at the AXA.
Despite that though, it simply isn’t in Liverpool’s current DNA to pull off a deal like this. It would be a wrench to see Mane back in the Premier League with any other side. But as he looks to reignite his career, maybe a move to the league he played his best football in would be for the best.
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