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Report: Liverpool open to Mane sale, Klopp has specific replacement in mind

Sadio Mane of Liverpool reacts during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Liverpool FC and Atletico Madrid at Anfield on...
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Sadio Mane of Liverpool reacts during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Liverpool FC and Atletico Madrid at Anfield on March 11, 2020 in Liverpool, United… (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Liverpool are reportedly open to selling Sadio Mane when the transfer window opens.

The Senegal international has been linked with a move to Real Madrid over the past year or so.

Earlier this year it was reported that Mane wanted to leave Liverpool for the Spanish giants, all because Reds boss Jurgen Klopp said that team-mate Virgil van Dijk should win the Ballon d’Or, an award that the former Southampton winger was also in the running for [France Football].

And according to Le 10 Sport, the reigning European champions are open to selling the star they signed for a bargain £30 million four years ago.

The report adds that Klopp has a ‘specific replacement’ in the form of Timo Werner in mind, but that Real president Florentino Perez doesn’t rate Mane as highly as Zinedine Zidane.

Could he leave?

In a word, nope.

Firstly, Real probably can’t afford what Liverpool would ordinarily demand for Mane – potentially over nine figures.

They’re a wealthy club, one of the richest in world football, but the global health crisis is having a huge knock-on effect in the transfer market and signing Mane for a fee that Klopp and Michael Edwards would deem satisfactory is nigh-on impossible.

And secondly, why would they sell? Mane is one of the best players in the world, one who finished fourth in the Ballon d’Or stakes.

Nothing about this particular rumour is likely to be true.

Sadio Mane of Liverpool during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool FC at Molineux on January 23, 2020 in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. (Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)