Liverpool's number 10 departed this summer for pastures new, after six years on Merseyside, Sadio Mane departed for Bundesliga outfit FC Bayern Munich for a reported £28.8million. Liverpool legend John Barnes believes fans can't ever forget the Senegalese international.
Sadio's departure may have come as a shock to many Liverpool fans, but the winger revealed to BBC Africa that he actually informed the club of his desire to leave over a year ago "For me, it was the right time. I spoke with the coach one year ago and talked to him about my desire to leave"
Liverpool acted quickly in the summer window by bringing in Uruguayan frontman Darwin Nunez from Benfica, finally giving Jurgen Klopp a prominent number nine, for the first time since the manager arrived at the club.
Many fans believe it is in fact Luis Diaz who was brought in to replace the outgoing Mane, with Liverpool forced to act in January for the Columbian to fend off any interest from Tottenham Hotspur.
Speaking exclusively to BonusCode Bets the former Liverpool winger Barnes, who Mane was often likened to during his time on Merseyside has revealed he does not feel Nunez will allow fans to forget Mane in a hurry. “You’re not going to forget Sadio Mane cause of what he gave us.
"But he gives us a different dimension. A different option. He’s not a Sadio Mane type of player, but he can give us something different.
“When crosses are coming in the box, you can already see that he’s a presence. He’s big, he’s strong. So he’s different to Sadio Mane.
“I would love for Sadio to have stayed, but he gives us something different.”
LFCTR Verdict
It is unlikely that Nunez was brought in to replace Sadio, although Mane played his final months in a red shirt as a 9, the majority of his Liverpool career was spent on the left-hand side of the front three, with the exception of his first season on the right.
Nunez is a completely different player to Sadio and offers more of a presence in the Liverpool attack, whereas Luis Diaz is a lot more similar in his playing style to Mane. It has been well documented that Klopp wanted the Columbian this summer but was forced to act due to interest from Spurs.
With Mane's revelation that he informed the club over a year ago of his desires to leave, it appears a lot more likely that the scouting department identified Diaz as the man to replace the departing Mane, as opposed to Nunez, who is likely been brought in as a replacement to Brazillian Roberto Firmino.
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