Just when it felt like things could not get much worse for Liverpool fans, there was another blow on Sunday morning.
A little over 12 hours after losing the Champions League final to Real Madrid, it was reported that Sadio Mane could be leaving Liverpool this summer. Links with Bayern Munich have intensified over the past couple of weeks, and that is sure to go up several notches in the coming months.
Liverpool will demand more than €30m for Sadio Mane this summer and will only consider selling if a replacement is sourced. The Senegalese international is about to enter the final 12 months of his contract.
READ MORE: Sadio Mane replacement targeted as Liverpool braced for Bayern Munich transfer bid
READ MORE: Sadio Mane replacements Liverpool could sign this summer
Anfield sources insist Mane has not communicated his desire to leave - but they are braced for contact from Bayern as speculation in Germany intensifies over the 30-year-old.
The ECHO understands that Liverpool will want a sum in excess of the fee of £25.5m (€30m) that has been reported across German media this week. Despite only having a year on his terms at Anfield, the Reds feel the player’s quality - as evidenced by his 23 goals this term - versatility and experience make him worth considerably more.
Mane is a symbol of Jurgen Klopp’s revolution at Liverpool. He was the first statement signing in the summer of 2016, and has played a key role in pretty much all of the club’s major achievements ever since.
It was always going to be a sad day whenever it came that Mane would express a desire to leave the club. It must be said that Mane is still a Liverpool player, and we’ve still got a long way to go until that may or may not be the case.
Of course, it's understandable to be sad about the prospect of Mane leaving Anfield, He wasn’t ever going to be a Liverpool player forever, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
Klopp and co will have a very difficult job finding a player that could come close to having a similar impact on the team. It’s not just his goal output, but the reliability of being fit pretty much all season long.
Just this season alone, Mane hasn’t missed a single match due to injury. He was absent for the Africa Cup of Nations, but when based on Merseyside he has always been available for selection this term.
And if you look back on past seasons, Mane’s reliability has always been there. Missing just 39 matches due to injury or illness over six seasons and making 269 appearances in all competitions.
Mane’s reliability is something you almost always cannot buy in players these days. It’s an incredibly difficult quality to possess in any player, especially with the sheer amount of football being played at the top level of the game.
This is before you factor in the actual quality that Mane possesses. Before the Champions League final there was talk about him being in contention for the Ballon d’Or award, which is not something that happens for many players in history.
His record of 120 goals since arriving at Anfield can only be bettered by Mohamed Salah, who is another generational talent. Liverpool are lucky to have two on their hands at the peak of their powers at the same time.
Regardless of whether Mane does or does not leave Liverpool this summer, the club’s recruitment team will already be working hard on a possible replacement. Who they will have lined up remains to be seen, but you can be sure that it will not be an easy task.
However, if you look at the recent acquisitions of Luis Diaz, Ibrahima Konate and Diogo Jota, to name just a few, the club's record in the transfer market is more than respectable. It looks like that shrewd business nature may be needed once again.
