Fabinho reveals he tried to convince Sadio Mane to stay at Liverpool instead of joining Bayern Munich
Sadio Mane joined Bayern Munich this summer in what was a heartbreaking transfer saga for many Liverpool fans.
Ever since joining the Reds, Mane quickly became a fan favourite and one of our most important players in big games. His signing arguably started the Jurgen Klopp revolution at Anfield.
But this summer brought an end to a six-year-long association. Mane wasn’t a man of many words off the pitch or even on it, but there were some players in the team he grew close to.
Fabinho was one of them. Speaking to the Athletic (Subscription Required), the former AS Monaco defensive midfielder revealed that he tried to convince Mane to stay at Anfield this summer.
“At the end of the season, I spoke a lot with Sadio. He told me about the situation that he could leave. I was always saying to him, ‘Come on Sadio, stay here. You can win the Premier League and the Champions League right here, don’t leave’. But I think he had already made his mind up. We had to respect that.”
Farewell, Sadio
Fabinho then mentioned that after the parade, which took place one day after Liverpool’s devastating UEFA Champions League loss against Real Madrid, the Reds bid farewell to the ex-Southampton man.
“After the parade in Liverpool, everyone said goodbye to him. We knew there was a good chance he would be leaving. I always kept some hope that he would still stay but then it was all confirmed.”
That’s that then. Mane is no longer at the club and this pre-season feels a little odd without him. But this isn’t the first time that Liverpool or Jurgen Klopp has lost an important player.
The Reds, in fact, are in one of the finest ever spells after Philippe Coutinho’s departure to Barcelona. And what looked like costly departures when Emre Can left for Juventus and Georginio Wijnaldum joined PSG, LFC still managed to come out as a strong team.
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They have taken two steps, or so it seems, to fill the void left by Mane. Luis Diaz joined earlier this year and he has been joined by Darwin Nunez this summer.
