Saudi
OpenLife Nigeria reports that Bayern Munich announced on Saturday that Senegalese striker Sadio Mane was in talks “about a change of club, ” reports suggest he was destined for Saudi side Al Nassr.
This is happening at a time Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, has disclosed that the huge spending from Saudi Arabia may end the English Premier League’s dominance.
For Mane, the German champions, posting on Twitter, said : “Sadio Mane is in contract negotiations about a change of club and is therefore not in the line-up today.” Mane left out of a friendly match in Tokyo.
The 31-year-old former Liverpool star is due to become the latest high-profile player to join the cash-rich Saudi league.
Bild and Kicker magazine reported he was on his way for a medical with Al Nassr.
Mane would be another major signing for the club that pulled off the first coup of a raft of signings by Saudi clubs by luring Cristiano Ronaldo, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
Mane won the Champions League and Premier League in six seasons with Liverpool and was a key part of Jurgen Klopp’s devastating front three with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.
When Liverpool won their first English league title for 30 years in the pandemic-disrupted 2019-2020 season, Mane scored 18 goals.
But in the summer of 2022, when he won the African Player of the Year, Mane decided he wanted a new challenge — unconfirmed rumours said he was tired of sharing the limelight with Egypt’s Salah at Anfield.
After a strong start to the season at Bayern, it soon become clear that Mane was not clicking in Bavaria.
In a Bundesliga game against Werder Bremen in November, Mane suffered an injury to his fibula and his season was put on hold.
The injury forced him to miss the World Cup in Qatar at the end of last year in a crushing blow to Senegal’s chances.
While Mane returned to the Bayern team in 2023, his problems were underlined when he became involved in a physical altercation with teammate Leroy Sane following a Champions League defeat to Manchester City.
Bayern reportedly fined Mane around 350,000 euros ($385,000) and gave him a one-match suspension for his part in the incident.
He ended the season with an underwhelming 12 goals in 38 games across all competitions. He is set to quit Bayern with two years left on his contract.
Aside from Ronaldo, Al Nassr have also signed Croatia midfielder Marcelo Brozovic, Brazil full-back Alex Telles and Ivory Coast midfielder Seko Fofana.
Meanwhile, the EPL has witnessed a massive exodus from the league to Saudi clubs. Players such as N’golo Kante, Edouard Mendy, Riyad Mahrez, Ruben Neves, Kalidou Koulibaly, Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firminho, and others left this summer.
According to The Athletic, the 52-year-old now believes the Saudi League has the financial strength to compete, and that could hurt the dominance of the EPL.
“It is not about the threat; it is a reality. They want to create a strong league, and so far, they are the league who can do it.
“The Premier League spent more than the other [leagues] because the organisation of the Premier League is better and the broadcasts and the sponsors are higher than the other leagues, so the clubs can spend what they have.
“Right now, the Saudi League—I don’t know how long they will sustain that but the feeling is that they will stay. I would say the players want to take this experience to play in that league and they are able to do it.”
He also agrees with Cristiano Ronaldo, who said a few weeks ago that he ‘opened the door’ to players signing for Saudi clubs.
“A few months ago when Cristiano (Ronaldo) was the only one to go, no one thought this many top, top extraordinary players would go to play in the Saudi league. I think in the close future it is going to happen more and more.”
Cristiano Ronaldo,
About Author
