Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp hails Sadio Mane as ‘world class’ player

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Sadio Mane has been described as world class by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who said Senegal star had to believe in himself to reach this level.

Sadio Mane endured a somewhat bittersweet experience this international break, as he played the full 90 minutes for Senegal in their 1-0 win over Equatorial Guinea. However, the Liverpool number 10 was left in tears after apparently being booed by his own nation’s fans after missing a goal chance in the second half.

Back on Merseyside, the pacy forward was being held in much higher regard by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp. Speaking to Premier League Productions and reported by the official Liverpool club site, Klopp spoke of the fact that he always knew that Mane was a world-class talent.

“He is an outstanding player, I never had any other opinion,” Klopp said.

Klopp made Mane his first big-name signing in the summer of 2016, bringing him to Anfield for £30m from Southampton.

“He is physically strong, technically strong, he is unbelievably quick, he is quick in mind as well, and he is a good shooter with both feet,” the former Borussia Dortmund boss said about Mane’s best traits on the pitch.

Mane seemingly needed some more self-belief to realise his full potential. Klopp said once Mane had that confidence in himself he was able to realise his potential.

“He needed more confidence when he came in… he needed to get used to that he is a world-class player,” said Klopp.

Much has been made recently about Liverpool’s front three of Bobby Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Mane, and their struggles to reach last season’s levels of performance.

It does the front three a disservice, however, to analyse their goalscoring output out of context, as Liverpool are a far more rounded outfit this time around. They have eased off on the full-on gegenpressing, while basing their early season successes on a solid defence, rather than an unstoppable attack.

Mane himself already has 6 goals in 11 Premier League appearances for The Reds. Last season, he finished the season with 10 league goals after 29 appearances, so he is well on the way to outscoring that total.