10 February 2024 , 09:00
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Jurgen Klopp did not tell Sadio Mane about Philippe Coutinho's impending Liverpool exit after the signing of Mohamed Salah forced him to switch roles.
When Mane joined Liverpool from Southampton in 2016, he spent the entire season playing as a right winger while Coutinho starred primarily on the left. However, Salah's move from Roma the following year saw him become Klopp's first-choice on the right.
As a result, Mane switched to the left where he and Coutinho were in direct competition, although the Brazilian did occasionally play a more central role that season. Mane's form suffered after the positional switch and Klopp held private talks with him about his future after Liverpool drew 1-1 with local rivals Everton in December.
In the match, Mane missed an excellent chance that could have earned Liverpool the win and Klopp attempted to give the winger a major confidence boost - although he refused to tell him that Coutinho was nearing a move to Barcelona.
"He said he had confidence in me, and that with time I would play to the point of exhaustion," Mane told the Liverpool Echo in 2020. "Even so, I told him I wanted to play. Klopp said he had to rotate his squad.
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"There was also the fact Coutinho was close to leaving and he didn't want to tell me that straight out." Less than a month after their talks, Coutinho completed a big money move to Barcelona for a reported £142million.
Following his departure, Mane started all but one of Liverpool's remaining games that season and began to regain his form. Alongside Salah and Roberto Firmino, Mane was part of a prolific Liverpool attack that won the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup before he eventually left to join Bayern Munich in 2022.
Mane is now playing for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, having left Liverpool in 2022 (Michael Regan/Getty Images)However, he lasted just one season at Bayern and joined Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr over the summer where he is now teammates with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Aymeric Laporte and Marcelo Brozovic.
Following fresh criticism of the league in the wake of Jordan Henderson's early exit from Al-Ettifaq, Mane hit back as he told reporters at the Africa Cup of Nations: "For you guys, if you don't play in Europe, it doesn't matter. I'm not around as a football player.
"Fortunately, I can say the Saudi league is a very good league, and watched by everybody in the world, so, for me, as long as I'm doing my best and I'm enjoying myself every single minute, that's more important. The rest, for me, doesn't matter."