Sadio Mane turned out to be one of Liverpool’s best signings in recent history, but things could have been very different.
The Reds have been astute operators in the transfer market for quite some time, with Michael Edwards pulling off some deals that were simply astonishing.
Often under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool would buy decent players and turn them into superstars, with Sadio Mane being one of the best examples of this.
The Senegalese forward was a solid Premier League player at Southampton and the Reds snapped him up for just £34m, with the Reds selling him six years later for a £1m profit after he helped them win five trophies.
However, things could have been so different and Mane once admitted that he would have signed for Manchester United instead if it was not for what Klopp told him.
Liverpool can spend £100m in January if FSG are willing, who do you want to see signed? 💰
“Ultimately, if they want to spend £100m, there is nothing
stopping them. Whether they will or not is entirely down to the owners. They
have a £350m revolving credit facility – which you can basically liken to an
overdraft – that they can use if cash flow is tight. And if a blue-chip
centre-back is going to be the difference between qualifying for the Champions
League or not, it makes sense to pay a bit of a January premium and get a deal
done.”
Finance expert Adam Williams speaking to RTK about
Liverpool’s January transfer budget
Jurgen Klopp persuaded Sadio Mane to join Liverpool instead of Manchester United
Liverpool and Manchester United have, of course, been fierce rivals for a very long time, so players do not often have to pick between playing for one or the other.
Mane did, however, and he even revealed back in 2022 that he had a contract agreed with them before joining Liverpool in 2016, but Klopp managed to get him to change his mind.
“I have to say, I was really close to going to Manchester United,” Mane said to The Telegraph in 2022.
“I had the contract there. I had it all agreed. It was all ready, but instead I thought, ‘No, I want to go to Liverpool’. I was convinced to go with Klopp’s project. I still remember the first time I got the call from Klopp.
READ MORE: Raheem Sterling once revealed what would have ‘definitely’ made him stay at Liverpool in 2015
“I was watching TV and he said, ‘Sadio, listen, I want to explain to you what happened at Dortmund’. That was when he thought of signing me for Dortmund and for some reason it didn’t work out.
“He tried to explain and I said, ‘it’s okay, it happened’. I forgave him. Then he said, ‘now I want you at Liverpool’. And I said, ‘okay, Dortmund is behind us, let’s focus on the future’.
“He said, ‘we have a big project at Liverpool and I want you to be part of it’. Then he asked what position I wanted, because he could see at Southampton I played on the right side and I used to play on the left.
“I said I prefer left, and then he said, ‘but Coutinho is on the left!’ So I said, never mind, I will play on the right. I could see myself in all the positions.”
Sadio Mane is one of Jurgen Klopp’s best signings
Klopp managed to sign some elite level talent during his tenure at the club, including the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Alisson Becker, but Mane is one of the best.
He netted 120 goals and registered 46 assists during his six years at Liverpool, with the Senegalese considered as one of the world’s best at certain points throughout his career.
The Reds have never quite managed to replace him since he departed for Bayern Munich, a move which never really worked out for him.
Luis Diaz was supposed to be the heir to his throne but he never carried the goal threat that Mane once did, with the Colombian now also trying his hand at the Bundesliga champions.
It is strange how minor details can have a huge impact on the bigger picture, but Klopp’s call was certainly one of the best things to happen to Liverpool in a long time.
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