Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur will renew their battle in the Premier League next season.
Tony Cascarino has warned Sadio Mane not to return back to Liverpool early as he stated that he could end up like the now-departed Tottenham Hotspur defender Kieran Trippier.
Mane was in action for Senegal as they were beaten by Algeria in the Africa Cup of Nations final on Friday. The Liverpool attacker is yet to take any rest from last season’s gruelling campaign.
This time last summer, Trippier was coming off the back of a brilliant World Cup campaign with England, but he lost his sharpness and form last season and he has since made the switch from Tottenham to Spanish side Atletico Madrid.
Speaking to Weekend Sports Breakfast on TalkSport (20/07/2019 07:50 am), Cascarino made it clear that Mane has to have his rest before he returns to Anfield else he could suffer next season.
“You have a real issue is how you get him right for the season,” Cascarino told TalkSport. “The answer is don’t think about the start of the season for Sadio Mane. He’s got to come in two to three weeks later than everybody else. He has to have a break now.
“Someone like Trippier who has just gone to Atletico Madrid. What a World Cup he had. Then you look at his season and he looked like a player that didn’t quite have that edge about his game. And that’s what you lose. The edge in the game is massive.
“If you’re not quite on your game, you slip down and your standards just drop slightly. And that can be a big impact on a season for so many games. And Liverpool have been reliant on Mane. He was important as any forward at Liverpool last season.”
Mane is one of Jurgen Klopp’s key players and it remains to be seen what plans he has in place ahead of the new Premier League campaign.
There’s no doubt that Mane will miss the early part of the new season, with the transfer market and the current squad during pre-season having their chance to prove their worth.
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