Former Manchester United player Trevor Sinclair has claimed that ex-Liverpool winger Sadio Mane left the club for Bayern Munich because he was not appreciated like other top players at the club.
The Senegalese captain ditched Liverpool after spending six good seasons with the team. His departure came after the 2021/22 season and Bayern Munich has already announced him as their new player. Mane has always been a top player for Jurgen Klopp’s squad and he played an important role in helping them to win the FA Cup and Carabao Cup last season, finished second in the Premier League with just one point behind Man City, and reached the UEFA Champions League final but lost to Real Madrid.
According to Trevor Sinclair, Sadio Mane made the right decision by leaving The Reds to join Bundesliga champions FC Bayern Munich.
“This Sadio Mane transfer is obviously universally accepted now he’s left Liverpool Football Club as a club legend,” Sinclair told talkSPORT. “But I keep on hearing some fans and ex-players saying ‘I don’t know why he has left?’ Let me tell you why he left.
“One, I don’t think he’s ever been lauded and appreciated at the football club like Virgil van Dijk or Mo [Mohamed] Salah. Two, the fact that Liverpool let his contract go down to the last year kind of suggests that that’s how they felt about him.”
Sinclair went further to say that Jurgen Klopp created the desire for Sadio Mane to leave when he belittled the Africa Cup of Nations before he stated that he was misunderstood. The 30-year-old Mane went ahead to help Senegal to win the last African Nations Cup competition for the first time in their history.
“I think the main thing is that Klopp lost him when he came out and belittled the Afcon tournament which his manager [for Senegal] Aliou Cisse had to come out and defend the Afcon and said ‘you were coming second until our African players started playing for you,” Sinclair continued. “Mane is a man of principles, you’ve seen him buy hospitals, buy schools, and all the rest of it in his hometown of Senegal and it’s for these reasons I feel Sadio Mane’s thought, you know what, I’m going, I’m leaving the club.
“He’s had a good time, he’s been a club legend but I don’t think he could play on after that.”
Sadio Mane could be pairing with Lewandowski and Sane in the Bayern Munich next season. However, Robert Lewandowski is likely to leave this summer if an offer from Barcelona will be accepted.
