The Rise of Sadio Mane

The Senegalese star has scored 20 goals in all competitions this season with 17 of those coming in the Premier League. This has been Mane’s best goal return in the Premier League for Liverpool during his 3 seasons at the club and has been Liverpool’s main man in attack since the turn of the year. Last season Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino’s performances were very much overshadowed by the phenomenal season produced by Mohammed Salah which saw him score 44 goals in his debut season for the club. However, in the last couple of months both Firmino and Salah’s goals have dried up. Sadio Mane has really stepped up his game with 11 games goals coming in his last 11 appearances in all competitions and has scored some very crucial goals along the way. Liverpool bought Mane back in 2016 from Southampton for £34 million off the back of a great season with Saints which saw him score 11 league goals including a hat trick against his current side Liverpool. The Reds may be slightly wary this Summer after rumours emerging that Real Madrid are keen on signing the 26-year-old after a very poor season by their standards. Mane recently put pen to paper on a new long-term contract with Liverpool however previous cases such as Luis Suarez have proved that contracts mean very little in the world of football nowadays. Things look to be changed under Jurgen Klopp with Liverpool rising to the top of World football and therefore are in a position to keep all of their key players for as long as they wish.

This season a lot of teams have used 2 of their own men to man mark Mohammed Salah, and with Roberto Firmino dragging defences out of position with his clever runs, Sadio Mane has often found himself with a lot more time and space than he has been used to over the last couple of seasons. This has allowed us to see the Sadio Mane who runs at players and gives them a torrid time just like we were used to seeing so much in his first season at the club. Mane’s form could help to free up the out of form Salah in the last few games of the run in as teams have started to realise that Salah is not Liverpool’s only attacking threat. If Sadio Mane can continue this rich vein of form, it will only improve the form of his 2 fellow attackers at the same time and hopefully carry Liverpool over the line in both competitions this season.