Sadio Mané has been in good form for the Reds recently, opening the scoring against Arsenal and doing the same against Porto, only to have it chalked off by VAR. Liverpool have made a point of securing many of their first team regulars to long term contracts earlier this year, with questions being raised as to when main man Mo Salah will sign.
However, like Salah, Sadio has yet to sign a new deal, and with his contract expiring in 18 months, it is only a matter of time before the rumour mill goes into overdrive about the possibility of the Senegalese superstar leaving Anfield for free.
On the latest episode of our Journo Insight Show, we asked Goal’s Neil Jones for an update on Mané’s contract situation.
Neil said:
“If we’re getting to the point where we’re talking about Salah: ‘What are Liverpool going to do?’, the same has to apply for Mané. It might not be on the same scale, the pay might not be the same, maybe Sadio’s options aren’t as wide as Salah’s if he wants to leave, but I don’t think they’ll be far off. He’s still a massive, massive player for Liverpool. I would be very, very hopeful that Liverpool have got that contract situation in hand, because I think it would cost them an awful lot of money to replace him, and I think it would be very difficult to find the player to do so.”
Redmen Reacts
Neil is right to point out the lack of attention Sadio’s contract situation has garnered. There is certainly less online clamour to announce that he has signed a new deal than there is about Salah. He was not at his best last season and has been prone to missing the odd sitter. Gary Neville compared Liverpool’s front three with other famous front threes on Monday Night Football and suggested it may be time to break it up. The injection of Diogo Jota has provided enough of a change that teams may now not be sure exactly which front three they will be facing.
At his best, Mané is one of the most dangerous attacking footballers in the world. It was only two years ago that a panel of 239 football experts voted him the third best player in the world in a poll for a UK national newspaper. Players like this do not grow on trees. Liverpool should not want another Wijnaldum-style contract saga dragging on. If Sadio is tied down for the remaining peak years of his footballing career, he can either be sold at a later date, or allowed to leave for free in the same vein as the likes of Adam Lallana.
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