Much was made of the club’s and/or Sadio Mane’s decision for his time at Liverpool to come to an end this summer and one former Red shared his thoughts on why our former number 10 opted to switch to the Bundesliga.
Speaking to ECHO, Salif Diao said: “I think he’s been here for a couple of years and I think at some point he thought he didn’t have the love he really needed, here at Anfield.
“I’m not talking about the fans, for him I think it was more with the coach.
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“Things weren’t really going the way they should, so he decided to take on a new challenge. I think as a top-tier player, every time you stay 4 or 5 years at a top-tier club, sometimes it’s good to face a new challenge.”
It is a scathing criticism of the coach by the former Senegalese international and it is clear that he does not believe that Jurgen Klopp is treating his compatriot with the respect and affection he deserves.
It seemed that the now Bayern Munich star had decided that his time on Merseyside was over and that his departure was purely in search of a new adventure rather than to do with the way he had been treated.
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However, there are always ways to convince players to stay and if the 30-year-old had felt even more loved then he might have been happy to at least see the final year of his contract.
We’ll never know what happened behind closed doors with the couple, but it’s not particularly fun to assume friction when there’s no reason to believe they were there.
It is clear that the former Southampton striker has a lot of respect for our club and every time the German crosses paths with him again, they will surely share a big hug and talk about the happy memories they shared together.
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