Sadio Mane’s goals have kept Liverpool in the Premier League title race but just imagine how things would have turned out at Arsenal.
Look away now Arsenal fans.
Sadio Mane has arguably been the Premier League’s stand out player since the turn of the year, scoring nine times in his last ten games in the competition to keep Liverpool in the title race.
These days, no one is questioning the Reds’ decision to pay Southampton £34 million for the Senegal international (BBC). With Mane finally adding consistency and a ruthless streak to his game, he looks like a bargain these days.
But it all could have been different had Arsenal seized their chance to sign arguably the best African footballer in the world today back in 2012.
Before Mane swapped Metz for Red Bull Salzburg after shining for Senegal at the London Olympics, Arsenal were given the chance to bring the little-known youngster to the Emirates stadium.
That is according to Mady Toure, the president of the Generation Foot Academy where Mane made his name.
“After the Olympic Games, I offered him to (then Arsenal scout) Gilles Grimandi,” Toure told APS. “A few years later, I recalled this episode to Arsene Wenger, who was managing Arsenal at the time.”
Mane was to join Salzburg later that summer instead for a fee of £3.4 million, according to Die Presse, before starting on a journey which ended in him becoming one of the Premier League’s most feared attackers.
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