Whether Pep Lijnders is about to sign former Liverpool attacker Sadio Mane for RB Salzburg

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Sadio Mane has not had the best two years since leaving Liverpool for Bayern Munich.

Mane decided he fancied a change of scenery after six years with the Reds back in 2022, and made the move to Munich.

However, after just one season with the German giants, the Senegalese was shipped out to the newly-rich Saudi Arabian Pro League, joining Al Nassr.

Then Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel slammed Mane’s time at Bayern after the 32-year-old made 38 appearances, scoring 12 goals.

Things have been more like it for the former Liverpool star in Riyadh. Playing alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, Mane bagged 19 goals in 50 games last season. But now there are rumours that he could be on the move again.

Could Sadio Mane re-join RB Salzburg?

The best time of Mane’s career was undoubtedly at Liverpool. The African became a Liverpool legend during his time at Anfield.

However, leading up to his arrival on Merseyside in 2016, Mane had also been enjoying a career that had been steadily building to that point.

As every Liverpool supporter will remember, he was a terror to Premier League defences while at Southampton for two years.

Before that, Mane had really started to make his name in Europe with RB Salzburg. He was one of the first real star names to pass through the now renowned Austrian club.

READ MORE: Pep Lijnders wants to take ‘terrific’ Liverpool player with him to RB Salzburg

Now, Salzburg count former Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders as their head coach. Lijnders is already trying to poach some Liverpool talents to work with again.

As well as hoping to link up with some youngsters from the Reds’ academy though, there have been rumblings that Lijnders may try and extract Mane from Al Nassr and back to Salzburg.

According to journalist Florian Plettenberg though, there is nothing in these rumours for the time being.

“Rumours about Red Bull Salzburg and Sadio Mane are wide of mark at this stage – confirmed!” Plettenberg reports on X. “Contract with Al Nassr valid until 2026.”

Will Sadio Mane leave Al Nassr?

It would be interesting to have seen what Liverpool would have done with Sadio Mane had he decided to stay back in 2022.

There were claims that Liverpool were ready to offer Mane a new deal. Mohamed Salah signed one that same summer, while Roberto Firmino’s drifted and ultimately expired a year later.

Had the Senegal icon have committed to Liverpool though, we’re not sure how good of an idea that would have been.

Since his exit Mane has become a shadow of the player he formerly was. It says plenty that he’s rumoured to leave Al Nassr within just one year of joining.

From a Liverpool point of view, it would be nice to see Mane link back up with Lijnders at his former home. Unfortunately though, we don’t see how it feasibly happens.