- Senegalese star spent one season in Germany
- Has joined Ronaldo and Co in the Middle East
- Big salary blamed for surprise summer sale
WHAT HAPPENED? The Senegal international forward only moved to the Allianz Arena in 2022 when completing a £35 million ($45m) switch from Liverpool. A similar fee has taken him to the Middle East 12 months on, with the 31-year-old said to be pocketing £650,000-a-week alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo Brozovic in Saudi Arabia. He had been earning more than £17m ($22m) a year in Germany, with his representative claiming that Bayern forced the Africa Cup of Nations winner out as they no longer wanted to pay that salary.
WHAT THEY SAID: Bacary Cisse has told After Foot RMC: “It wasn't a footballing decision (to sell him). Sadio's salary bothered the Germans, they didn't understand how an African joins the club and becomes the top earner ahead of everyone, so they wanted to get rid of him. They never called the player's representatives. They never told Sadio face-to-face that they wanted to get rid of him. They just sent (Thomas) Tuchel to tell him that he will be a third choice left winger. Sadio has nothing to prove to the Germans. He didn't become what he's become thanks to Bayern. It was thanks to Liverpool. Bayern were ungrateful. They were paying an African all this money, and that hurt them.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Mane only hit 12 goals for Bayern during his solitary campaign in Bavaria, while also falling out with team-mate Leroy Sane at one stage, and Cisse added on severing ties with the Bundesliga champions: “He was professional until the end. But the people in charge at Bayern weren't fair. They first leaked to the media they were ready to sell him for €20m. But after he returned to training and they saw he was doing well, they raised the price to €30m. Sadio didn't steal his money. From the first meeting with Bayern, he gave them his word that he would join, without talking about the salary. His representatives negotiated that salary for him.”
IN TWO PHOTOS:
Getty Images.png?format=pjpg&auto=webp&width=3840&quality=60)
Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT? Mane has formed part of the mass exodus that is seeing proven performers in Europe flock to the Middle East, with the expectation being that there will be more big-money deals done in the current transfer window and those that follow in 2024.