Jurgen Klopp has praised Sadio Mane for the way he behaved during his transfer from Liverpool to Bayern Munich this summer.
Mane left to join Bayern on a three-year contract last month after Liverpool accepted a £35million bid from the German side. The 30-year-old first told Liverpool of his desire to leave the Premier League club last year because he wanted to challenge himself.
The Senegal international departed after contributing 120 goals and 48 assists in 269 appearances for the Reds. He helped Klopp’s side win the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup following his arrival from Southampton in 2016.
Klopp was sad to see Mane go, having helped develop him into one of the best forwards in the world, but the Liverpool manager believes he acted professionally at all times throughout the process of leaving.
"Sadio told me and his agent told me that he was looking for a new challenge," Klopp told Viaplay Football. "And if that happens early enough, like it was in this case, and if that happens in the right way and the player and the agent are working, and the new club where they want to go is ready for negotiations, then it should be like it was now.
"Then you say 'thank you' with the biggest respect ever, I couldn't have more respect for Sadio, what a player he is and I wish him the best. And he will play for ages, he can play until 38 or 39 with his body, it's absolutely crazy. Bayern have got a really good player but we had him for six years, so that's fine."
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Moving clubs can be a drawn-out process and can turn bitter if all sides are not in agreement. Manchester United have spent two months trying to sign Barcelona ’s Frenkie de Jong, but Klopp is pleased with how swiftly and amicably Mane’s move was wrapped up.
"It shows these kind of transfers can work like this," he added. "We will want to use it in the future as an example, it's completely normal that sometimes in relationships there are changes needed. In this case, Sadio wanted it and we reacted and now we both try to make the best of it. I'm really fine with the situation. We will miss him from a sports point of view and as a person as well. But I am fine because that's how life is."
Mane explained his reasoning for leaving Liverpool in a recent interview with BBC Sport after he was crowned the men's African Footballer of the Year for the second time. "When Bayern Munich came to me and I saw the project, I was so, so passionate about it," he said.
"They have big targets, because of course it's one of the best clubs in the world. I honestly want to win cups, want to win the Champions League, so if you have a team fighting for everything, it's always an easy choice."
