Liverpool will not be bringing Sadio Mané back to Anfield but there are similarities with his situation and that of Philippe Coutinho, who left for Barcelona in 2018
Sadio Mané has been linked with an exit from Bayern Munich for some time now, but quite where the Senegalese forward could end up remains to be seen.
Having left Liverpool last summer, things have not gone to plan. Mané missed the World Cup because of injury and while his goalscoring return has not been awful, he was essentially brought in to replace Robert Lewandowski — an impossible task — and finished the season mainly having to settle for a couple of minutes here and there off the bench.
Bayern felt at the time like the deal it had struck with Liverpool for the services of Mané was an excellent one. The feeling in Germany was that it showed the power of the Bundesliga that a player of such a caliber was able to be taken from the Premier League.
Ultimately, though, it has simply not worked out like that at all. Mané has scored 12 times and assisted six in 38 appearances for Bayern to date, but he might not get the chance to add to that tally.
After an underwhelming season, Mané is one of a number of players that Bayern would like to sell in the coming weeks, according to BILD, as it seeks to avoid a repeat of a situation where was some actual jeopardy in the league. In the Champions League, it was knocked out comfortably by eventual champion Manchester City
But it is one thing for Bayern to want Mané to leave and another for the German side to be able to sell him. His price tag will have fallen below the $44m (£35m/€41m) paid last year, but now 31, there is not a huge queue of clubs lining up to take him.
Newcastle United has been mentioned but that feels unlikely and out of keeping with how Eddie Howe’s side has operated in the market, while Mané was suggested by Italian journalist Rudy Galletti as an option for Real Madrid. Again, though, that would come as a major surprise.
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Saudi Arabia would definitely take him — the region is essentially targeting any big name over the age of 30 — but that is unlikely to prove appealing aside from the eye-watering sums of money involved.
It feels a little like the lack of options that faced Philippe Coutinho when Barcelona decided it no longer wanted the Brazilian when he had left Anfield for a vastly-inflated fee of $184m (£146m/€170m).
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