Sadio Mane has revealed that he nearly joined Manchester United before Jurgen Klopp convinced him to sign for Liverpool.
Jamie Carragher has spoken to the forward for the Telegraph about how he nearly joined the Red Devils before he signed for Liverpool.
"I have to say, I was really close to going to Manchester United," Mane said, as quoted by Anfield Watch's Twitter account.
"I had the contract there. I had it all agreed. It was all ready, but instead I thought, ‘No, I want to go to Liverpool.'
"I was convinced to go with Klopp’s project. I still remember the first time I got the call from Klopp. I was watching TV. It was an action movie - because I love movies - and he said, ‘Sadio, listen, I want to explain to you what happened at Dortmund.'
"That was when he thought of signing me for Dortmund and for some reason it didn’t work out. He tried to explain and I said, ‘it’s okay, it happened.' I forgave him. Then he said, ‘now I want you at Liverpool.'
"And I said, ‘Okay, Dortmund is behind us, let’s focus on the future.' He said, ‘We have a big project at Liverpool and I want you to be part of it.' Then he asked what position I wanted.
"Because he could see at Southampton I played on the right side and I used to play on the left. I said I prefer left, and then he said, ‘but (Philippe) Coutinho is on the left!’ So I said, never mind, I will play on the right. I could see myself in all the positions.”
📺 Jurgen Klopp on the #UCL final:
"I really think the world is either white or red. There are some people who don't like us too much and they will support Madrid, some people don't like Madrid too much and they will support us!" 🔴 pic.twitter.com/V6bLUgAlQ6
— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) May 26, 2022
Anfield Watch Verdict
Imagine if Mane had joined Manchester United over Liverpool. All the memorable moments that the Senegalese winger has provided us during his six years at Anfield never would have happened.
Mane was one of the first players who really bought into Klopp's 'heavy metal' football.
If we never signed Sadio, then we probably would've signed Mario Gotze, who was a decent player at the time. But, he has never reached the heights that Mane has reached during his Liverpool career.
Whatever happens after this summer transfer window is still unknown, but if he does leave Anfield, then all we can do is thank Mane for his several years of service.
