Sadio Mane, one of Liverpool’s dangerous and lethal front three made the move to Bayern Munich last season but within one season his stint in Germany is seemingly coming to an end. According to several reports, Thomas Tuchel wants to offload the current African Player of the Year with the Senegalese might be on his way to Saudi Arabia.
What was supposed to be a dream career move for the player, and an extra-ordinary capacity acquisition has came through with little to no triumph. There are reason associated why Mane didn’t work out at Bayern, and we will try to explore them in a brief –
Not the missing puzzle piece
Mane did not have a great season over at Bayern having scored 11 times over 37 appearances in all competitions. He has 0.44 goals per 90 which is a drop off from his last season of 0.51 goals per 90. With Lewandowski leaving, Bayern needed someone who can consistently find the net and create opportunities out of thin air and those expectations were shouldered on Sadio.
But with only one year from unveiling Sadio as a Bayern Player they are ready to part ways with him. Mane has expressed his desire to stay and fight for his place at Bayern but that is now looking very unlikely to happen.
Mane likes to play as a left winger but he faced stiff competition from Leroy Sane and was deployed as a number 9. Any Liverpool fan would argue that someone like Mane is better off playing as an inverted winger rather than a sole forward as he did under Nagelsmann.
Injury Woes: A Setback for the Senegalese Star
Though Mane had a great start he was rarely the impact player at Bayern with almost all of his goals coming in matches where Bayern won with a minimum goal difference of 3. The injury didn’t help him as well not only did he miss the World Cup in Qatar but his form dropped massively as he scored only 1 goal between November and May.
After Mane couldn’t get up to speed post his injury recovery, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting came in and provided the performances Bayern expected from their new signing. His relationship with Julian Nagelsmann also started to become sour as the German manager was frustrated with Mane not taking his chances and the duo were involved in a furious row following Bayern’s victory over PSG where Mane complained about being left on the bench and only getting 8 minutes, something he has also done at Liverpool a few times.
Anger issues and Cup Eliminations
Even though Thomas Tuchel publicly defended Mane, he was very unproductive as Bayern got knocked out in both the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League with the latter probably starting the chain of events which has led Bayern to leave Sadio out of their project.
Following the loss against Manchester City, Sadio Mane was involved in a heated dressing room brawl against Leroy Sane where the Senegalese threw a punch at the German which busted open his lip. He was fined and suspended by the club for one match. All these incidents raised some concerns about Mane’s temper among the Bayern hierarchy
Mane started 5 times in Bayern’s last 12 league matches whilst scoring only one goal. During the last matchday, Mane was again left on the bench and it was clear that his time at Bayern is slowly coming to an end. There was also an article published back in March which said Sadio Mane leads the Bundesliga in “OFFSIDE GOALS”, for which Mane’s PR agency blamed his Bayern teammates which didn’t help the cause.
An early goodbye?
Many pundits agreed on the fact that Mane didn’t look integrated into this Bayern team, now with Tuchel having enough options to deploy upfront he does not need the former Liverpool star. The Bayern higher officials have also been not impressed with his debut season with Oliver Kahn saying that he is still in search of himself.
Bayern got Sadio Mane on a bargain of 35 million and they would be looking to offload him and his wages if an offer of around the same amount comes through. Cristiano Ronaldo’s AL Nassr are very much interested in him and is very close to securing his signature and Mane would also prefer to play at a club where he is wanted. With 120 goals during his Liverpool tenure, it is sure to say that he wont be looking back at his time in Germany as a success.
And while one former Premier League star moves on, Bayern target another in Harry Kane…
