Sadio Mane 's agent has shut down rumours that the 30-year-old's departure from Liverpool was due to his wage demands.
Following Mane's £35.1 million transfer to Bayern Munich, which was completed on Wednesday, speculation arose suggesting that the Senegal captain had made the move to Germany for financial reasons. Mane had one year remaining on his Liverpool contract and negotiations over a new deal were put on hold as the Reds unsuccessfully attempted to hunt down the quadruple towards the end of last season.
Shortly after their agonising 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final, the forward opted to call time on his Anfield career. The decision ended his six-year stay on Merseyside after being made Jurgen Klopp 's first major signing in June 2016. But Mane's PR agent, Bacary Cisse, has dismissed rumours that his salary was Liverpool was 'too low'.
"Those are false rumours," Cisse told TV5Monde. "We didn't want to talk about that. A player of Sadio's calibre can't be earning the salary that people are speaking about. The numbers circulating are completely wrong.
"Sadio was already earning more than that when he joined Liverpool from Southampton. He extended his contract in 2018 and his salary was much higher than the numbers circulating in the media."
Despite his contractual situation with the Reds, many saw Mane's exit as a surprise. After the player himself laid out his reasons for wanting a change of scenery - labelling Bayern the "right club at the right time" - his representative shed more light on his client's decision. "He won everything with Liverpool and it was time to seek a new challenge elsewhere," Cisse added.
"Bayern's project was very attractive. Bayern came knocking. Sadio, his German agent Bjorn Bezemer and I had a discussion. Many other very big clubs, that I won't name, wanted Sadio, but when we saw Bayern's project we said, 'That's it, we have to go there'.
"The coach [ Julian Nagelsmann ] and the sporting director of Bayern [Hasan Salihamidzic] travelled personally to Liverpool, there was a very good meeting in Sadio's house and we discussed the contract."
One reason which fans believe factored into Mane's decision was that the transfer could give him a better chance of winning the Ballon d'Or, with Africa's only previous winner being Liberian legend George Weah in 1995. Cisse, however, poured cold water on the notion by affirming: "Sadio does not want to talk too much about that. It's an individual award that players want to win. If it comes, so be it, but if it doesn't, Sadio will continue to play his football and go his way."
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Mane had been competing with Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz for a place in Klopp's team last term, often being overshadowed by his teammates' brilliance. Although getting the limelight could still be a challenge in Munich, Cisse reckons that the ex-Southampton star is "well prepared" to compete with the likes of Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sane and Kingsley Coman - as well as Robert Lewandowski if his transfer to Barcelona fails to materialise - for a place in Nagelsmann's starting XI.
"There was competition in Salzburg, Southampton and Liverpool but Sadio has always managed to prevail," he explained. "Bayern didn't sign Sadio because he's the most beautiful man in the world, but because he's a very consistent player."
