Sadio Mané leaving Liverpool after £35m Bayern Munich deal accepted
Liverpool have accepted Bayern Munich’s latest offer for Sadio Mané and the forward is due to have a medical before signing a three-year contract. Bayern are paying a guaranteed £28m and the fee could reach £35m with add-ons.
Mané told Liverpool of his desire to leave soon after the Champions League final and made Bayern his preferred destination. Bids from the German club were turned down before a deal was reached on Friday. Bayern’s sporting director, Hasan Salihamidzic, confirmed the move to Sky Sports in Germany on Friday evening. “Yes, Sadio is coming to Bayern,” he said.
The Senegal international has been at Liverpool since 2016 and decided the time was right for a new experience. He had one year left on his contract. Liverpool wanted a replacement – as well as a suitable fee – and this week secured Darwin Núñez from Benfica in a deal that could reach £85m. Núñez, who turns 23 next week, is seven years younger than Mané.
At Bayern, Robert Lewandowski is determined to leave for Barcelona, who are preparing a new bid for the striker after personal terms were agreed. The Pole is also being pursued by Chelsea
and Paris Saint-Germain but Bayern have said they have no intention of allowing him to move.
Mané is the second first-team forward to leave Anfield this summer after Divock Origi, who was a far more peripheral figure and is due in Milan next week to sign for the Serie A champions. Mané started 32 of Liverpool’s Premier League games last season and 11 of their 13 Champions League fixtures. In 269 appearances for the club he scored 120 goals and assisted 48.
Liverpool appreciated the respectful way in which Mané went out about communicating his desire to go. They had tried to persuade him to extend his contract but he was clear he saw his future elsewhere. Attempts to get Mohamed Salah to sign a new deal have also been unsuccessful but the Egyptian has said he will stay for next season, at the end of which he is due to become a free agent.
Núñez is the most high-profile of Liverpool’s summer signings but two other players are joining Jürgen Klopp’s squad. Fábio Carvalho’s move from Fulham has been confirmed and a £6.5m deal has been agreed with Aberdeen to buy the right-back Calvin Ramsay.