“We don’t have to regret what we lost, but celebrate how privileged we have been to have him. He is a legend, a modern Liverpool icon.” This is how Jürgen Klopp fired one of his emblematic players, Sadio Mané. And so, without meaning to, he revealed the truth of his departure: it was a relief for the club!
How? In what head can they say goodbye to 20 goals per season without a hint of nostalgia? In fact, in that of Klopp himself, who avoided the difficult decision of choosing who to eliminate, in a team that, like very few others, is really a family.
“Liverpool was never going to be able to keep Mane, Salah and Roberto Firmino beyond the expiration of their contracts in 2023. With the trio at the same age and the same length of contract, the ‘reds’ always faced this dreaded prospect of having to choose and, ultimately, the first difficult decision has been taken out of their hands,” the Liverpool Echo newspaper said ahead of Mané’s signing with Bayern Munich.
And this is where Luis Díaz enters the scene: when the Senegalese decides to leave, Klopp had already anticipated the signing of his replacement, precisely the Colombian, whom he signed not when Tottenham appeared in the business but when the DT smelled that one of the three legs of his table were going to break (Mané). Is that why the rush to sign him in winter, when there are no big transfers? Of course! It was for him at a lower price, knowing that he would go for Núñez in the summer at the stroke of a checkbook, in exchange for almost 100 million euros, because he knew, and still knows, that one more of the trident can say goodbye soon. Unlike other occasions in which he waited to react, like before the exit of Coutinho, this time the ‘reds’ feigned surprise when Mané left, while in reality it meant relief. It doesn’t matter how he put on his makeup, that’s how it was, without filters.
Mané, after the footsteps of Neymar
But there is the other part of the story: why would Mané want to alleviate a problem for Liverpool, if there are no more than five clubs in Europe that guarantee him that dispute of all the titles that Klopp offers? Ego, damned (blessed?) ego.
Do you remember when in 2017 Neymar left FC Barcelona in a record transfer because he was convinced that he would not be a Golden Ball as long as he was in the shadow of Messi? So, just like that, only the ghost on duty is called Mohamed Salah.
Mané pressed his exit because he got tired of being second in line, because he saw that the priority of the renewal was always for the Egyptian and he understood it, being the best player of the year in the Premier League. Of course, that does not mean that he had to like it, which is why, when Bayern Munich appeared, he understood that without Lewandowski (he will press and will surely go to FC Barcelona) he would be the true leader of the team, he would avoid the bother of a Manchester City that always went to be a stone in the shoe in the titles in England and instead with the Bavarians the photos with trophies would be everyday, including the dispute of the very Champions League,
The current African champion has been dealing with the ghost that has finally gotten rid of him since 2016, when scoring 13 goals was not enough to establish himself in his position because Salah appeared and now, to top it off, Díaz arrived. There was no longer any doubt that he was not the cornerstone, but the Egyptian, whom among other things he had the luxury of taking out of the next World Cup. Little revenge.
It will be for this reason that there were no complaints, regrets or reproaches but, as Klopp said, “love and gratitude”. It was a most amicable divorce at an ideal time for everyone. The difference with the Neymar case is that Mané did not leave for money or fame but to take advantage of his last years of glory, with his maturity and football intact. Time will tell if he or Liverpool will regret it in the future. Gambling was a matter of life or death… for everyone.
