SAUDI PRO LEAGUE
The decline of Sadio Mané
Mané’s footballing slump began when he ended his spell at Liverpool after six seasons at the highest level.
Sadio Mané has gone from the Ballon d’Or gala to the Saudi Pro League. Not a year has passed since Mané came second at the 2022 Ballon d’Or awards; only Karim Benzema was better than the forward that year. Months after Mané's achievement, the Senegalese player left Bayern Munich for Saudi Arabia. The Saudi league is attracting more and more stars, but is still behind the top European leagues. The African player’s footballing slump began when he ended his spell at Liverpool after six seasons at the highest level. He wanted a new challenge and Bayern was the chosen place. One season later it is clear that it was not the right move.
Replacing Lewandowski
Mané won everything under Jurgen Klopp, but he wanted to take a new direction in his career. And Bayern needed to fill the gap Robert Lewandowski left in attack. Liverpool would receive a tidy €32m fee for the sale. It was a win-win situation.
Mané's time at Bayern did not turn out well at all; twelve goals in 38 games with the German club was all he could manage. The 2022-2023 season was marked by a fight with his team-mate Leroy Sané and an untimely fibula injury, which prevented him from going to the World Cup in Qatar to defend the colors of his country. A horrible year all in all.
Joining Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr
Long gone is the 2018-2019 season when Mané was the top scorer in the Premier League, alongside Mo Salah (Liverpool) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal), with 22 goals. At the time Mané was among the best attackers in Europe, the key piece of Liverpool’s dream trident with Salah and Roberto Firmino. He has gone from having a price of €150m in his most successful spell (end of 2019) and is now worth just over €20m. With Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr, he will seek glory in a new league, but European soccer is still way ahead.