Sadio Mane is one of the few African footballers who are currently rocking Europe. His steadfastness, speed and football mentality over the years have earned him a name and is currently one of the most-rated players in the world. Do you really know where he came from?
Who is Sadio Mane?
Sadio Mane is a Senegalese footballer who currently plays as a winger for English club Liverpool and Senegal, his national team.
Mané started his career at the Académie Génération Foot, Senegalese football academy where he transferred to France
His career began to be known when he was playing for Metz in France on January 14, 2012, when he started as a substitute for Kevin Diaz in a match that they were beaten 1-0 at home.
On August 31, 2012, Mane secured a move to Red Bull Salzburg for €4 million, the third biggest transfer fee Metz ever had. The Australian club still remembers him for having scored the fastest hat-trick, having netted thrice in 176 seconds. This was also his first trick ever since he began his football career.
He scored another treble on May 7, 2014, a time when Salzburg won 7–0 at Horn in the cup semi-finals. That particular season, Mane helped his team win the domestic double title; Australian Bundesliga and Australian Cup.
At the end of August that same year, Mane forced a transfer out of the club. He did it by failing to show up for the training and most especially, most important match for Salzburg.
On September 1, the Senegalese transferred to the Premier League where he joined Southampton at a fee of £11.8 million for four months.
He made a debut 22 days later when he was featured in a match against Arsenal in the League Cup. Mane led Soton to win 2-1 against Arsenal, where he scored his first goal in England.
In December and January alone, Mane scored in three successive matches; against Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Arsenal. However, on February 22, 2015, Mane was dropped in a match against Liverpool as a form of punishment for coming late to the stadium.
On May 16, Mane scored another hat-trick in 2 minutes 56 seconds this time for Southampton in their last home match against Aston Villa where they thrashed their visitors 6-1. He broke a record in the Premier League for having scored the fastest hat-trick since 1994 when Robbie Fowler scored three times against Arsenal in 4 minutes and 33 seconds.
His good record earned him a move to Liverpool on 28 June 2016 for a £34 million on a five-year contract. The transfer fee made him the most expensive African player in the Premier League time.
He made his debut on 14 August 2016 for the Reds and managed to score the fourth goal in the 4-3 away win against Arsenal.
The Senegalese is remembered for his lone goal in their 227th Merseyside derby against Everton in added time.
On 11 February 2017, Mane scored two goals in two minutes in their match against Tottenham at Anfield. This was Liverpool’s first League win in 2017.
On 20 April 2017, the winger was named in the PFA Team of the Year after scoring 13 goals for Liverpool and despite playing the latter part of that season’s campaign through injury, he was still awarded with the Player of the season award.
On 14 February 2018, Mané scored his first hat-trick for Liverpool in a 5–0 away win against Porto in the round of 16 first leg of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League.
Tweeting this because, well, it’s marvellous and I adore Sadio Mané…pic.twitter.com/hWTIeEhKxJ
— Ben Webb (@BenWebbLFC) May 13, 2019
Mane continued with his superb performance throughout season 2018-19 and has since helped his club go a great mile. on 20 April, he was among the six players named for the Players’ Player of the Year award alongside his teammate Vigil Van Djik.
Also, Mane was among the players who scored the most goals in the Premier League. Mane, together with his teammate Mohammed Salah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang won the Golden Boot award for having scored 22 goals each.
Currently, Mane is playing for Liverpool as a winger.