Sadio Mane’s exit from Liverpool shows the ruthlessness Newcastle United will need to adopt if the club is ever going to reach the top end of the Premier League.
The forward’s move to Bayern Munich - after yet another prolific campaign in the Premier League - is a sign of the cutthroat nature of building and re-building top-level squads. Mane hit 23 goals in 51 games in all competitions as Liverpool won the FA Cup and League Cup, only narrowingly missing out on the Premier League and Champions League, but the Merseyside club put little fight up to keep him at Anfield.
While Mane made it clear he was ready to leave Liverpool, with a year left on his contract, Jurgen Klopp and the Liverpool board could have moved to persuade him to sign a new deal. Yet instead, Liverpool showed the ruthlessness that Eddie Howe and the Newcastle board will quickly have to adopt if the club is to fulfil its full potential.