According to Sadio Mane, he agreed on personal terms with Manchester United in 2016 before joining Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
The 39 years old forward has revealed that a call from Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp convinced him to join the Reds. Sadio Mane joined Liverpool from Southampton at a transfer fee of £34 million on a five-year contract.
The decision to join the Merseyside club seems to be the right decision as the Senegalese international has been an important member of the Liverpool squad. Sadio Mane has won the Premier League, Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, The FA Cup, and the Carabao Cup in his six years at Liverpool.
What did Mane say?
Speaking with Liverpool Legend Jamie Carragher on the Telegraph, Sadio Mane said: “I have to say, I was close to going to Manchester United. I had the contract there. I had it all agreed.
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“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.
“I was watching TV. It was an action movie – because I love movies – 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 in 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 had been linked with a move to Bayern Munich this summer but the player had already stated that he will make his decision now after the Champions League finals.
Meanwhile, Thomas Muller has played down rumors linking Sadio Mane to the Allianz Arena.
The 34-year-old said via BILD “If every rumored player joined us, we would have ended up with a 45-man squad every year.
“I’m going to show up in Säbener Straße [Bayern’s training ground] at the beginning of July and see who else is there.”
Thomas Muller who has a contract with Bayern Munich until 2025 believes Bayern is the best place to be.
He said via TZ: “That’s a simple answer because I have everything I enjoy here in professional soccer. I can’t judge what it’s like elsewhere.
“But here I know that I’m playing for titles – both nationally and internationally. We’ve won a lot of championships over the past ten to 15 years and have always played for Europe’s crown. Accordingly, the conditions on the sporting side are super and by no means boring
“I have it in my mind to play at the top level until 2025. Whether that will happen, I don’t know. But that’s the game plan. That hasn’t changed.”
