Sadio Mane’s career has not gone as expected since he opted to leave Liverpool two years ago.
The Senegalese icon decided to move on from the Reds after a stunning six seasons at Anfield in 2022.
With one year left on his contract at the time, Mane chose not to stay at Liverpool and headed for Bayern Munich instead.
Mane flopped at Bayern, unable to tap into what had made him one of the best players in the world during his time with Liverpool.
Having since moved to Saudi Arabia and to Al Nassr, there have been more rumours about Mane’s future this summer. In this climate, Man City superstar Erling Haaland met the 32-year-old one-on-one for the first time.
Erling Haaland meets Sadio Mane
Haaland joined City in the same summer that Mane left Liverpool. But things could not have gone more differently for the two of them since.
While Mane’s career has petered out a little, Haaland’s has exploded. The Norwegian has won two Premier League titles and two Golden Boot’s during his time in England so far.
Nevertheless, Mane’s legacy is such that he has clearly earned the respect of Haaland.
The pair were videoed meeting up in Spain by Al Nassr’s official X account during this summer’s pre-season.
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“How are you my friend?” Haaland asks, as they go in for the hand shake and hug. “All good,” replies Mane, off camera.
“How’s life?” the City man queries. “Good,” says the Liverpool legend. “Yeah, happy,” Haaland pushes. “Yeah, I’m content. Happy.” “That’s good.”
With the striker’s father, Alf Inge, taking over the conversation with Mane, the shot then jumps to the two players saying their farewells with another handshake.
“Nice to meet you my friend, all the best,” says Haaland. “Take it easy,” responds Mane, with the smile we became so familiar with during his years at Anfield.
What next for Sadio Mane?
It’s still a shame to see that Mane could not sustain his career in Europe following his exit with Liverpool.
Of course, the main thing is that the forward is happy, and – as he says to Haaland- he is. But there remains a nagging feeling that he wasn’t quite done at the top level.
Having said that, he was no longer the same player for the final 18 months before he left the Reds.
His move to Bayern failed to reignite the spark Mane perhaps had expected it would and after that you can kind of understand his jump to the Saudi Pro League.
We’d still love to see Sadio come back to his best at whatever level in Europe, but it doesn’t look like something that will be happening.
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