“Stay here and they will end up building a statue in your honour. Go somewhere else, to Barcelona, to Bayern Munich, to Real Madrid, and you will be just another player. Here you can be something more."
Jurgen Klopp’s warning to Philippe Coutinho, a few months prior to the Brazilian’s club-record £142m move to Camp Nou, has been milked for all its worth over the past six years. If you weren’t aware of it at the time, the chances are you’ll have stumbled upon it countless times in the years that have followed.
Coutinho would indeed get his move to Barcelona, before a loan switch to Bayern Munich. While he would win two La Liga titles and a Copa del Rey with the former, and went even better by lifting the treble with the Bundesliga outfit, he was nothing more than a bit-part player for both.
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Both the Catalans and Bavarians had fought tooth and nail to bring the playmaker to their clubs, only to swiftly decide he wasn’t for them. Never has the phrase ‘the grass isn’t always greener on the other side’ been more appropriate.
‘Just another player’ at both Barcelona and Bayern, the same even applies to Coutinho now at Aston Villa. Signed permanently by former team-mate Steven Gerrard in a £17m switch last summer after a successful loan, it would be no surprise if Unai Emery became the latest manager to discard the unwanted Brazilian come the end of the season after yet another disappointing campaign.
Long gone are the days where the now 30-year-old was Liverpool’s talisman, helping fire them back into the Champions League for only the second time in eight years. Leaving the Reds just as they were on the cusp of European and English glory, not that he could have possibly known that at the time, his Anfield achievements have long since been overshadowed.
While Liverpool might have endured a transitional campaign this year, off the back of nearly landing an unprecedented quadruple last season, they have still won every major honour on offer to them since Coutinho’s departure in January 2018.
Of course, the Brazilian isn’t the only player guilty of potential second thoughts following an Anfield exit, with Emre Can finding himself frozen out then discarded by Juventus after just 18 months in Turin. He has at least since re-built his reputation at Borussia Dortmund.
He has lifted a Serie A title and the DFB-Pokal since leaving Liverpool behind. But the Germany international, still only 29, could have achieved so much more had he not opted to quit the Reds, not knowing what he was walking away from, at the end of his contract in the summer of 2018.
In truth, as Klopp’s Liverpool marched towards a first Champions League final since 2007 against Real Madrid in 2018, neither Coutinho nor Can had any reason to believe the Reds would be competing for the European Cup once more in 2019. In hindsight, it is perfectly reasonable to have believed that Barcelona and Juventus were more likely to deliver such success.
Yet come 2019, Liverpool were champions of Europe. In the months that followed, they’d be crowned champions of the world and England also, while last year’s quadruple charge completed the set with domestic double glory.
As a result, those that have since left were able to be part of ‘something more’ before departing for pastures new. In some cases their Anfield efforts could even be worthy of a future statue. But that hasn’t stopped them from now being ‘just another player’ elsewhere.
Gini Wijnaldum is now on loan at AS Roma, having flopped after joining Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer in the summer of 2021. Xherdan Shaqiri would last even less in France, moving to Chicago Fire in February 2022 after just six months at Lyon.
Divock Origi is a Liverpool cult-hero, having scored so many crucial goals for the Reds during seven seasons at Anfield with none bigger than his Champions League trio of strikes in the semi-final against Barcelona and final against Tottenham Hotspur. Leaving for AC Milan on a free transfer last summer, he has already been written off as one of Serie A’s worst signings of the season.
Meanwhile, Takumi Minamino was so crucial to Liverpool’s domestic double last year, but has failed to re-establish himself as a leading man with AS Monaco after growing tired of a bit-part role at Anfield.
Yet in the case of this quartet, it was the Reds’ decision for their Anfield careers to come to an end. New contracts were not agreed with Wijnaldum or Origi, while Liverpool were happy to cash in on Shaqiri and Minamino.
Which makes the case of Sadio Mane even more curious. The Senegalese left Anfield for Bayern Munich last summer, departing in a £35m deal having decided he wanted to move on in search of a fresh challenge.
In truth, he saved Liverpool a difficult decision at a time when they were negotiating a new contract with Mohamed Salah, with both players’ then-deals set to expire in the summer of 2023.
There had been suggestions of ill-feeling at Mane’s status in comparison to the Egyptian, as well as a possible fragile relationship with Klopp. But a genuine Reds legend who, while boasting 120 goals across six seasons, won all there was to win at Anfield, no-one begrudged the forward his decision to seek pastures new.
And it was that already legendary status, worthy of a statue, that ensured Kopites turned the other way at some questionable comments from the Senegalese on his way to the exit door that could have easily damaged relations for a lesser-loved star.
"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 final,” he told reporters when quizzed about his future prior to the Champions League final. “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 what you want to hear then.”
At the time, it was assumed he was referring to a new Reds contract. What else could be deemed the ‘best answer’, ‘special’, and ‘what you want to hear’, by Kopites, after all. Yet, as speculation linking with Mane continued, it soon became clear the forward hadn’t read the room. Or, at the very least, he was only talking on behalf of his compatriots.
"Like everyone else, I'm on social media and I see the comments,” he said after reporting for international duty after the Champions League final. “Isn't it between 60 to 70 per cent of Senegalese that want me to leave Liverpool?
"I will do what they want. We will see soon! Don't be in a hurry because we'll see this together."
Less than three weeks later, he was officially a Bayern Munich player. And by completing such a move, he has managed to prove Klopp’s famous warning to Coutinho right more than any other player.
The forward would start well at least, scoring on his debut in the DFL-Super Cup win over RB Leipzig before netting on his maiden Bundesliga outing against Eintracht Frankfurt. He would boast five goals from his first six appearances for Bayern, and 11 from his first 20 outings
Yet as the World Cup came into sight, he was already starting to find himself withdrawn early and in and out of the Bayern starting XI as they struggled to fit him into their side. While he had predominantly been an electric left-winger for Liverpool, Klopp had re-invented him as a central forward during his final months at Anfield, only for him to look like a square peg in a round hole when utilised in either role in Bavaria.
A leg injury would then rule Mane out of the World Cup as the forward required surgery, with the 31-year-old out of action until the end of February. He has scored just once since his return, starting just six of Bayern’s 14 games during this period, while he would come under the spotlight further for an ugly dressing room confrontation with team-mate Leroy Sane last month following a 3-0 Champions League defeat at the hands of Manchester City.
Suspended for a Bundesliga clash with Hoffenheim after allegedly punching the German in the dressing room, it has since been reported that Mane has no future with Bayern. Sky Germany report that new manager Thomas Tuchel wants to offload the forward, with a return to the Premier League, but not Liverpool, most likely due to his annual £17.4m salary.
Speaking after Mane’s confrontation with Sane, Sky journalist Florian Plettenberg said: "Right now, this is not the Sadio Mane from Liverpool. You can really see the injury from him, right before the World Cup in Qatar, has done something to him. He has not got the same speed, he's not very good at dribbling or tackling, his body language is very bad - he's not that same happy guy.
"That situation with Sane was a shock for the management, team-mates and my information is that he's seen critically inside from now because of his performances and that behaviour. A lot of players have distanced themselves from Mane - he's a candidate for sale in the summer, he has a high salary and Thomas Tuchel has no real plans to work with him next season."
A legend at Liverpool but, seemingly, an ostracised nuisance at Bayern, Klopp’s words of warning have come true once again. There will be no tears shed in Bavaria and, in truth, the only thing stopping his decision to leave Anfield being scrutinised further is the Reds' own struggles this year.
It is telling that despite Mane seemingly being available for transfer, there is no strong desire from the Liverpool fanbase to see him back at Anfield. Now 31, they know such a switch would be part of the Reds’ problem in transition as Klopp looks to build his next side.
Mane’s time, at Anfield at least, has been and gone. While he will search for an Indian summer when he leaves Bayern, his failing fortunes, along with Roberto Firmino’s as both players struggle with goals and availability, only reiterate further why Liverpool bosses have needed to revamp their attack over the past 18 months.
And it also reiterates how right the Reds were to prioritise handing Salah a new contract and retaining him as Liverpool’s talisman at the pair’s expense.
For half a season in 2017, the Reds boasted a 'Fab Four' of Coutinho, Mane, Firmino, and Salah. In the years that followed, their untouchable remaining attacking triumvirate was the best around.
Yet now it is only the Egyptian who continues to age like a fine wine as, after another 30-goal season, he closes in on the second-most successful campaign of his career in terms of goals and goal contributions. Such efforts juxtaposed to those of ageing stars past and present only justify the club's stance. A gamble, it has proven to be anything but.
Mane will have left Liverpool to step out of such a shadow and be a leading man elsewhere. To go somewhere else and be ‘something more’, worthy of a statue without sharing centre stage. In Bavaria, he has fallen horribly short.
How big a role Salah directly played in his own thinking regarding an Anfield exit, only the Senegalese can answer. Regardless, his time at Bayern hasn’t gone to plan and acts as a warning to the next generation of Reds departures.
Having won everything while at the peak of their powers on Merseyside, it was, is, and will be virtually impossible to one-up such an experience elsewhere. Liverpool has already been their ‘something more’.
Never mind whether the grass is greener or not, Mane’s time in Bavaria has proven he can’t have his cake and eat it.
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