Sadio Mane faces an uncertain future at Bayern Munich and the ex-Liverpool forward has been tipped to leave the German champions in the summer.
Since completing a move to the Bundesliga giants during the 2022 summer transfer window, things have not gone to plan for Mane. Despite scoring 11 goals in 33 appearances, the winger has struggled to cement a place in Bayern's team and the situation was not helped last week when he was involved in a bust-up with Bayern team-mate Leroy Sane which saw him left out of the matchday squad last weekend.
Arsenal have been backed to make a move for the 31-year-old in the summer, with former Manchester United star Louis Saha believing he is "one of the top 10 players in the world". Interestingly, the Gunners once had the chance to sign the Senegal international but passed up the opportunity.
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According to a report in Senegal published in 2019, via Daily Cannon, Arsenal were given the chance to sign Mane in 2012 but decided not to because he wasn’t “impressive enough”. This was just before he signed for Red Bull Salzburg at the age of 20, where he went on to score 45 goals in 87 games.
“After the Olympic Games, I offered him to Gilles Grimandi,” Mady Toure, president of the Generation Foot Academy, told APS. “A few years later, I recalled this episode to Arsene Wenger, who was managing Arsenal at the time.” A versatile defender, Grimandi joined Arsenal in 1997 from AS Monaco and later became a France-based scout for the club.
While Wenger's thoughts on the failed transfer are unclear, the former Arsenal manager is a fan of Mane and previously described Liverpool's decision to let him go as a "mistake". Speaking to BeIN Sport via Foot Mercato, the Frenchman said: “They lost Mane, who was a top player in big games.
"He had something, an aggressive attitude and determination. He would score no matter what, he would make things happen. It’s hard to measure what it takes away from them. They are missing something they had before.”
With Mane involved in a touching moment with Bukayo Saka during the Ballon d'Or awards ceremony last year, some have speculated that the Senegal international would be open to moving to the Emirates Stadium. Whether Edu and Mikel Arteta see him as a priority, however, remains to be seen.
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