Yaya Toure Wanted Manchester City to Sign Sadio Mane
Yaya Toure, the former Ivory Coast midfielder, has revealed that he asked Manchester City to sign Sadio Mane from Southampton when he was at the club. Toure, who spent eight years at City from 2010-2018, said he “highly regarded” Mane and wanted his superiors to sign him. However, it was Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool who eventually signed Mane in June 2022 for £35m.
Mane has since gone on to become an integral part of Klopp’s side which won the 2019 Champions League and the Reds’ first Premier League title in 2019-20. Toure spoke about Mane’s success on Match of the Day Africa: Top 10 about the Premier League’s best African player.
Why Yaya Toure Wanted Manchester City to Sign Sadio Mane
Toure said he always wanted to play with Mane and praised the Senegal captain for his work outside of football. He said: “When I was at City, at the time when he was at Southampton, I highly regarded him and I was asking some of my superiors to just sign him. But in the end it just didn’t happen.”
Toure praised Mane for his charitable work, saying: “The way he deals with things smoothly and the support he gives back to his people in his country is incredible, with what he’s been involved with. Some days I get mad when I read media about him and a journalist will ask him, ‘Why don’t you have a Ferrari and things’, and he says, ‘No, I don’t need it, I prefer to have a normal car than have a Ferrari’. Two months later we see him, he’s been doing things back in his home country, he’s a big example.”
Mane’s Charitable Work
Mane has been praised for his charitable work both on and off the pitch. In March 2020, Mane donated £41,000 to his national committee fighting against coronavirus. He also donated 300 Liverpool shirts prior to Liverpool’s 2018 Champions League final loss to Real Madrid for locals in his hometown of Senegal to wear during the game.
Conclusion
Yaya Toure has revealed that he asked Manchester City to sign Sadio Mane from Southampton when he was at the club. Toure praised Mane for his success on the pitch and his charitable work off it. He said: “The way he deals with things smoothly and the support he gives back to his people in his country is incredible, with what he’s been involved with.” Mane has become an integral part of Jurgen Klopp’s side which won the 2019 Champions League and the Reds’ first Premier League title in 2019-20.