The Southampton fans here in the Transfer Tavern are still pretty upset that their manager Ronald Koeman opted to jump ship and take over at Everton, and the summer departures might not be over for the Saints just yet.
Versatile forward Sadio Mane is the subject of interest from Liverpool and Manchester United, with a reported £30 million tug-of-war set to take place this summer to secure the player’s services.
Mane has been a revelation since arriving in the Premier League just under two years ago and it is little surprise that clubs such as Liverpool and United are now starting to show an interest.
The Senegalese player is the subject of some heated discussion this evening in the Tavern with some punters believing that Mane is a better fit for Liverpool than he is for the Red Devils, with one supporter in particular stating that he isn’t good enough to grace Old Trafford.
Our writer Lee Clarke took a look at three reasons why Mane would be a better fit for Liverpool than he would be at Manchester United
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PRESS THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE THE THREE REASONS!
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First-team prospects
Let’s be honest here if Mane makes the switch to Liverpool he will play most of the time and would be one of the club’s best players.
Mane fits into the hard-working, passionate Liverpool sort of player and I have little doubt that he would adhere himself to the Reds faithful in no time.
The 24-year-old needs regular football if he is to warrant leaving Southampton and you have to say that with United’s current squad, Mane would find regular matches hard to come by at Old Trafford.
Mane playing one side of a three pronged attack and Roberto Firmino on the other is something that is bound to excite the Liverpool faithful.
Inconsistency
Whilst Mane has developed into a solid Premier League player he still has too many games where he makes little or no impact whatsoever, which just wouldn’t do for a Manchester United player.
With all due respect to Liverpool they are shopping in a completely different market to United at present given that they are not competing in a European competition. Would Liverpool be pressing ahead with a move for Mane if they were in the Champions League next season? You’d have to say probably not.
United are still a global brand and in some respects they can boast about being the world’s biggest football club, which will always make the club attractive to potential signings.
Mane is good but until he becomes consistently brilliant he won’t be deemed good enough to play for Manchester United.
Big fish in a small pond
Mane is a man for the big occasion and more often than not he has come to the fore in the bigger games whilst playing for Southampton.
If Mane goes to Liverpool he would still be a relatively big name player for the Reds but if he went to Manchester United he certainly wouldn’t.
Liverpool fans genuinely appreciate a player who can get themselves ready and focused for the big games and Mane would be a real hit with the fans in that sense.
Moving to Manchester United and probably playing second fiddle makes no sense at all at this stage in Mane’s career, but Liverpool signing the player would be deemed as a real coup.
