Pundit Paul Merson believes Liverpool's sale of Sadio Mane is the 'worst business in the world' after the club parted ways with the winger earlier in the transfer window.
The Senegalese international was about to enter the final year of his contract at Anfield but opted for a fresh challenge abroad. He joined Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich for an initial £27.5m with a potential £5m in add-ons.
Mane has already scored three Bundesliga goals as the German club won their opening three games. The 30-year-old scored once in their 6-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt and twice in their 7-0 victory over VfL Bochum last weekend.
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Liverpool 's start to the season, however, as been far from straight forward as they've collected just two points out of a possible nine in their first three fixtures. Despite spending big on a striker this summer, with Darwin Nunez from Benfica joining in a deal that could rise to £85m, Merson believes parting ways with Mane was a 'terrible sale'.
"Liverpool were my tip for the Premier League title but they've been shaken to their core in their opening three matches," he wrote in his column for the Daily Star. "So many of their big players just haven't got going and weirdly, I could never see them beating Man United.
"Offloading Sadio Mane was the worst business in the world. It was a terrible sale. Even if you kept him for another season and let him go for free, you've got a world-class forward for another 12 months. For that amount of money - £35m - you can't tell me Liverpool think that's a lot because they went and bought Darwin Nunez for £85m. They could have delayed that and kept Mane. He's a big-game player that makes things and Liverpool are currently missing those."
Mane made over 260 appearances for Liverpool during his six years with the club. He scored an impressive 120 goals in that time and registered just shy of 50 assists.
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