Sadio Mané will buy Bourges Foot 18, National 2 club

By Le Figaro with AFP

Published 5 minutes ago, Updated now

Sadio Mané will become a shareholder of a club in France. FAYEZ NURELDINE / AFP

The Senegalese striker has pledged to become the majority shareholder of the club which hopes to reach Ligue 2 in the coming years.

Senegalese international Sadio Mané will become the majority shareholder of French club Bourges Foot 18, which plays in National 2 (4th division), the club announced on Wednesday.

“Sadio Mané is committed to Bourges through Bourges Foot 18 to carry out a project to professionalize local football”said the club in a press release about the upcoming arrival of the best player in the history of Senegal as a majority shareholder. “We will work together to develop and structure the club, to professionalize it”confirmed the player, connected by videoconference during a press conference organized at Bourges town hall.

The mayor of Bourges thought it was a “joke”

The Senegalese international with 99 caps, who shone at Liverpool from 2016 to 2022 before playing at Bayern Munich and then since this summer at the Saudis of Al-Nassr, has been in contact for three years with the president of the club Cheikh Sylla , explained the mayor of Bourges Yann Galut.

“When in October 2020, President Cheikh Sylla called me to tell me that Sadio Mané wanted to speak to me on the phone, I initially thought it was a joke”, admitted the mayor. The Bourges Foot 18 club, which is currently an association, will become a company of which Sadio Mané will be the majority shareholder, from January 2024.

“He is not there to sell dreams but to create strong links between Senegal and France”, declared Sadio Mané’s manager, Bakary Cissé, by videoconference. The amount of capital of the company has not been specified, nor the place that Sadio Mané will occupy in the future structure.

The club, which is aiming for Ligue 2 within a few years, should soon be strengthened by the arrival of Senegalese international Moussa Konaté, notably through Amiens or Dijon, announced club president Cheikh Sylla.

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