Sadio Mane sets ambitious target after takeover of French club Bourges Foot 18

Sadio Mane has set a target date of 2030 for Bourges Foot 18 to achieve promotion to Ligue 1, after taking over the fourth-tier side.

News broke earlier in the week that the Liverpool legend had been in talks with semi-pro outfit Bourges, with the takeover becoming official on Wednesday.

Speaking in a video statement at a press conference, Mane said: "We’ve been working with the city for the past three years.

"We’re here to nurture and organise the club.

"The challenge is immense, but if the people of Bourges remain involved, I’m confident we can achieve our goals. I believe I’ll be visiting Bourges very soon."

Meanwhile, Cheikh Sylla, who will stay on as club president, told L'Equipe that Mane has 'ambitious' plans for the future.

He is quoted as saying: "We are obviously changing dimension now that he is here, but we want to go at our own pace. The main objective remains to maintain ourselves in National 2 this season (13th out of 14 with one victory in 7 matches). If we succeed, we will set an ambitious budget, among the best in National 2, to move up. In the end, we are aiming for Ligue 2 by 2030, we don't look any further than that. And today, we have laid the foundations for the professionalisation of the club."

He later added that there will be a focus on developing young Senegalese talent, while insisting that Mane is "also not coming to invest millions at a loss."

Though he never played for Bourges, Mane began his European footballing career in France, when he joined Metz back in 2011.

The 2022 Ballon d'Or runner up left for Red Bull Salzburg a year later and went on to become a Liverpool legend after arriving as the first big-money signing of the Jurgen Klopp era, in a £30m move from Southampton in 2016.

Now 31, Mane scored 120 times for the Reds playing a major part in the club's historic 2019 Champions League and 2020 Premier League successes.