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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Paul Gorst

Sadio Mane given Liverpool transfer warning by two former team-mates as decision awaits

As Sadio Mane mulls over the decision of his career, the Liverpool forward has plenty of food for thought.

As of Sunday afternoon, just before a joyous parade to celebrate the domestic double winners got underway across the city, Mane had yet to inform Anfield officials of his next move.

The club themselves, though, are braced for contact from Bayern Munich as speculation intensifies in Germany over a player who is on the cusp of entering the final 12 months of his contract at Liverpool.

READ MORE: Sadio Mane gives Liverpool two transfer options as Julian Ward challenge begins

READ MORE: Bayern told Mane 'price' as Liverpool in 'frequent talks' to sign £13m starlet

Perhaps no player has pushed the Klopp era forward more than Mane, whose 120 goals for the Reds have been scored across the last six years. He was the first real big signing for the German manager at Anfield and instantly became a key cog from day one.

Few will forget that surging run and finish against Arsenal on his Liverpool debut. Not least Klopp, who had the Senegal star riding on his back in celebration after he had stuck it past Petr Cech in that 4-3 win in August 2016.

Nearly six years on, having won the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League and Club World Cup at Anfield, Mane is considering his options.

One of those is a big move to the Bundesliga behemoth that is Bayern. Liverpool will demand over £40m for the 30-year-old, despite his contract status, and will look to secure a replacement before any deal is struck with the German giants.

But there will be an appetite inside Liverpool to ensure that any move is not an acrimonious one given all that has been achieved since Mane joined from Southampton for around £30m.

For now, though, it seems as though Mane has plenty of thinking time ahead of him. And the recent history of high-profile departures under Klopp will ensure he has much to contemplate over a soul-searching summer.

He appeared in a jovial mood when asked about his next move by the ECHO last week at the club's AXA Centre and did not look to be someone undergoing inner turmoil over what to do next.

"Honestly I think the answer I can give you now is I feel very good, and I am fully focused on the Saturday game, that is the answer I must give before the [Champions League] final," he said. "But come back to me on Saturday and I will give you the best answer you want to hear, for sure. It’s special. I will give you all you want to hear then. Saturday, come back and I will give you the answer I promise."

If his mind is genuinely undecided, however, he would be wise to look at the stories of Philippe Coutinho and Gini Wijnaldum since leaving Anfield in recent years.

For Coutinho, his career nose-dived from a personal perspective once he went to Barcelona, enduring a largely miserable time before he was loaned out to Bayern Munich. The £142m deal must surely be considered one of the worst in history, even if the Brazilian's quality has always been evident.

Bayern's unwillingness to make their loan deal permanent eventually led Coutinho to Birmingham where he now plays for Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa. It's a fine club with a high-profile manager, but it is patently not where the attacking midfielder will have seen himself when he joined Barca in January 2018.

Wijnaldum is another whose stagnation has been notable in European football this term. The Dutch international didn't want to leave and admitted as much 12 months ago before a bidding war between Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona ensued for the free agent.

The Netherlands star played under 2000 minutes for PSG in Ligue 1 last term and has been a bit-part player for the champions of France, going about his business under the radar as the spotlight shines on the likes of Neymar, Lionel Messi and, of course, Kylian Mbappe.

“I can’t say I’m completely happy, because the situation is not what I wanted,” the former Liverpool midfielder said in March. “But that’s football and I’ll have to learn to deal with that. I’m a fighter. I have to stay positive and work hard to turn it around.

“I have played a lot in recent years, was always fit and also did very well. This is something different and that takes getting used to. I was really looking forward to the new step and then this happens. It is very difficult.”

There are, naturally, a whole host of specific reasons for why either player hasn't been able to replicate their Liverpool form away from Klopp's squad, but if Mane does have some thinking to do over his next move, he would do worse than to consider his two former team-mates.

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