It’s not just Jordan Henderson and Fabinho’s moves to Saudi Arabia which could affect Liverpool’s transfer plans this summer.
As reported by the Liverpool Echo, the Reds could also be impacted indirectly if Sadio Mane completes his impending move to Al-Nassr from Bayern Munich, to which Fabrizio Romano gave the ‘here we go’ on Friday.
The 31-year-old left Anfield for Bavaria just last year for an initial £27.5m, with the deal potentially rising to £35m. However, the £7.5m discrepancy from add-ons which would’ve been triggered by achievement-based bonuses and reaching a tally of appearances now looks set to fall by the wayside.
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While Mane was one of the leading lights of the Jurgen Klopp era at Liverpool, his time in Munich has been largely miserable thus far.
He missed three months of the campaign through an injury which also cost him a place at the World Cup and allegedly punched teammate Leroy Sane following a 3-0 Champions League defeat to Manchester City in April, barely featuring in the latter weeks of the campaign (Liverpool Echo).
Bayern as a whole fell short of expectations in 2022/23 despite winning an 11th straight Bundesliga title, barely getting over the line on the final day and suffering sobering exits from every knockout competition in which they participated.
His achievement-based bonuses are therefore unlikely to have been triggered, while any add-on for appearances made would surely have taken more than 38 games to activate.
The knock-on effect of Mane’s impending exit from Bavaria after only one year is that the £7.5m in add-ons that Liverpool could reasonably have expected when they agreed the deal in 2022 now looks almost certain not to materialise.
It’s not what the Reds would’ve wanted, and it’s sad to see the Senegal star’s fortunes decline so drastically, but at least we can take satisfaction from Klopp’s side getting the best years of this magnificent player’s career.
#Ep83 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones