Revealed: Liverpool squad's reaction to Sadio Mane's Bayern Munich transfer
FT Desk
- 6 Oct 2022 04:01 CDT
- 3 min read
Liverpool have got off to their worst ever Premier League start under Jurgen Klopp, and Sadio Mane's absence has been cited as part of the reason why.
Mane was one of the Premier League's best players across his six seasons with Liverpool, and contributed 120 goals and 48 assists from 269 games in all competitions before leaving for Bayern Munich in a €41 million deal this summer.
Mane - a Premier League and Champions League winner in his time at Anfield - has started brightly at Bayern, finding the target seven times in 13 games. No Liverpool player has scored more than Bobby Firmino's five goals, meanwhile.
Sadio Mané’s first Bundesliga goal 💪 pic.twitter.com/oSy6bFxLSO
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 6, 2022
Colombian wide man Luis Diaz stands to be the biggest winner from Mane's departure in terms of first-team minutes at Liverpool, but he lifted the lid on Mane's departure ahead of the Reds' 2-0 victory over Rangers in the Champions League on Tuesday.
"The team was gutted," he told Brazilian TV channel TNT Sports. "Obviously he's a player that will be missed in any club. He's gone to a big club and is working to achieve his goals.
Diaz: 'working hard to improve'
"And we're conscious of the big group we have here, we're working hard every day to improve. Everybody's here to help and that shows in games."
Liverpool spent €100m on Benfica's Darwin Nunez this summer, who, as a central striker, was not a like-for-like replacement for Mane.
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Goals in the Community Shield and on his Premier League debut augured well, but he hasn't found the target since, and admitted after the Rangers game that he didn't understand Klopp's instructions.
"The truth is, I honestly don't understand anything when he speaks in team talks," he admitted. "Of course, I ask my teammates to see what he said, but I think he's very clear about his style of play."
