The role Salihamidzic and Nagelsmann have in Sadio Mane transfer
Bayern Munich have reached a personal agreement with Sadio Mane a few weeks ago, while an agreement with Liverpool is still pending.
The English club has already rejected two offers from Bayern for Sadio Mane. Liverpool have considered the second offer to be quite disrespectful due to the bonus payments which are not realistically achievable. According to SportBild, sport director Hasan Salihamidzic will fly to Liverpool to meet the representatives of Liverpool, together with CEO Oliver Kahn. But what role does Salihamidzic play in this? What is Julian Nagelsmann doing behind the scenes?
Following the dramatic departure of Robert Lewandowski, which is still going, the club is now looking for his replacement. The Polish striker wants to leave immediately while the club has been in a struggle to find his replacement. Replacing Lewandowski won’t be easy, considering that they will lose out on a striker that scores on average 30 goals per season.
And due to the departure of the best player that Bayern has had over the past decade, the pressure on Hasan Salihamidzic to deliver has only increased. The Bosnian has targeted the Senegalese winger of Liverpool, Sadio Mane, and has intensively worked to sign him for weeks. But the negotiations have been anything but easy.
According to the British outlet „TheAthleticUK“, Hasan Salihamidzic sees the Mane signing as a „golden opportunity“ to redeem himself after all the dramas that have surrounded the club for months: The 5-0 humiliation to Gladbach in the cup fixture, the elimination to Villareal, the poor squad planning, and to top it off, the Lewandowski drama. For Salihamidzic, getting one of the biggest English Premier League players of the past couple of years for a small fee is definitely fitting for him and for the club.
Nagelsmann’s role in Mane transfer
Although it looks surprising, Julian Nagelsmann has also played a very major role in the pursuit of Sadio Mane. According to TheAthletic, Nagelsmann has been the „driving force“ behind the club’s pursuit of Mane. Nagelsmann believes that Mane would ‚enhance‘ the team’s qualities thanks to his experience, quality, and versatility. Mane can almost play in every position in the attack, also as a false nine where he has been tried out just recently for Liverpool.
Lewandowski won’t be the only attacker who will be leaving the club. German international Serge Gnabry is also on verge of a departure. For Nagelsmann, both departures would give him plenty of options of changing the system and playing with three forwards up-front.
The club believes that Sadio Mane will become Bayern’s man and Mane’s mind has already been made up. The Senegalese wants to leave Liverpool on good terms.
