Sadio Mane spent six seasons with Liverpool, scoring 120 goals in 269 games
Sadio Mane has completed a £ 35m transfer from Liverpool to Bayern Munich on a three-year deal.
The Reds will receive 32 million euros (27.4 million pounds) with an additional 6 million euros depending on the appearances, plus 3 million euros for individual and team successes.
Liverpool turned down two offers from Bayern before agreeing a fee for the Senegal striker, who was under contract until next summer.
“This is the right time for this challenge,” the 30-year-old said.
“I felt great interest in this great club from the start, so there was no doubt about it.”
Mane joined Liverpool for £ 34m from Southampton in June 2016 and scored 120 goals in 269 games, finishing last season with 23 goals in all competitions.
“Sadio Mané is a world star who underlines the appeal of FC Bayern and increases the appeal of the entire Bundesliga,” said Bayern president Herbert Hainer. “It’s because of such unique players that fans come to the stadiums.”
Mane helped Liverpool win the Champions League and Premier League, and in February scored the winning penalty when Senegal won the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time.
“With his excellent performances and great achievements at the highest international level for many years, there are very few players like him in the world,” added Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn.
“We are confident that Sadio Mané will delight our fans in the coming years with his spectacular style of play. He is ambitious and eager to win more titles. This package is very strong. With players like him at FC Bayern, all big goals are possible “.
Last week, Liverpool confirmed the signing of Uruguayan striker Darwin Núñez from Benfica for £ 64 million.
In a farewell interview for the Liverpool website, external link Mane said: “It’s really weird to stop being a Liverpool player, but I had an amazing time. I’ll be Liverpool’s number one fan forever.” .
Does Mane’s departure mark the “end of the era” at Anfield?
Since Jurgen Klopp was appointed Liverpool coach in October 2015, Mane was the German’s first major signing at Anfield the following summer.
Roberto Firmino was already at the club and Mohammed Salah arrived in 2017 to complete what would become one of the best vanguard lines in Premier League history.
In five seasons in all competitions, they scored 338 goals between them, helping Liverpool become European champions for the sixth time in 2019 and then win the English league for the first time in 30 years.
With the trio approaching 30 years old, Liverpool prepared for the evolution of their attacking ranks by signing Diogo Jota and then Luis Díaz, but Mané’s departure could be seen as the end of an era. at Anfield.
“It’s a great time, it doesn’t make sense for anyone to try to pretend otherwise,” Klopp told the Liverpool.external-link website.
“One of Liverpool’s best players is leaving and we have to recognize how important this is. But we don’t have to stay in what we lose now, but celebrate what we were privileged to have.”
Will the summer signings of Núñez and Fulham teenager Fabio Carvalho, allied with the arrivals of Jota and Díaz, lead to a second phase of success for Klopp at Merseyside?
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