Sadio Mane will ‘coast’ at Bayern Munich and ‘ruin the best two years of his career’ playing in the Bundesliga which ‘isn’t a challenge’ after leaving Liverpool

Sadio Mane has been told he will ‘coast’ in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich and will ‘ruin the best two years of his life as a footballer’ if he leaves Liverpool this summer.

The Reds’ Senegal star is on the brink of sealing a move away from Anfield in a deal worth up to £35million, ending a six-year stay in which he won every trophy on offer at club level.

Mane is set to join a side that have won the last ten German league titles on offer, with little competition along the way.

Seen as a replacement for Robert Lewandowski up front with the Pole agitating for a move to Barcelona, Mane will take up the goalscoring burden in Bavaria.

But former Liverpool and Wales striker Dean Saunders doesn’t see it as a challenge.

“Nothing against the club, it’s a great club, but the league is nowhere near a challenge for Mane,” he said on the Weekend Sports Breakfast.

“He’ll get goals. They win 5-0 every week, only one team can win the league.

“It’s not a challenge. He will get in his armchair, light a cigar up, he’ll play for Bayern in third gear and he’ll coast for two years and ruin the best two years of his life as a footballer.

“At the end of his career, if he said to you ‘come and look at my trophy cabinet’, the German league winners medal will be right at the back.”

The 30-year-old forward will leave Merseyside with a record of 120 goals in 269 games, and trophies in all six club competitions he’s taken part in.

Mane was one of the first major signings of the Jurgen Klopp era at Liverpool, joining from Southampton in 2016 and forming a memorable attacking trident with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

The Reds have boosted their forward ranks with Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, and most recently Darwin Nunez, but Saunders thinks it’s the wrong time for Mane to go.

“I can’t believe he’s leaving Liverpool, I don’t know it’s got to this point,” he added.

“He’s 30, I think of all his time at the club, the last six months he’s played the best football, he’s been unstoppable at times. 

“He went up the middle when Diaz signed and he started getting better and better at finding the pockets and linking the play up.

“I can’t get my head round why you’d want to leave Liverpool right now, when you’re playing the best football of your life in the best combination front-three he’ll ever play in, to go and play for Bayern Munich.”

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