Former Liverpool defender Jose Enrique has blasted Sadio Mane after he claimed that he would leave Anfield if the Senegalese people demanded it.
The Reds forward said an announcement on his future would be made following the Champions League final in May, and while this has not actually happened yet, reports suggest that the 30-year-old wants to move on after six successful years at Liverpool.
Bayern Munich are heavily linked with the player, who prompted controversy in a recent press conference while on international duty, after saying: ‘Like everyone else, I’m on social media and I see the comments.
‘Isn’t it between 60 to 70% of Senegalese want me to leave Liverpool? I will do what they want.
‘We will see soon! Don’t be in a hurry because we will see this together. The future will tell us.’
While Mane has since claimed that he was only joking when he made the remarks and will not comment on transfer speculation anymore, Enrique was not impressed.
‘The worse excuse I ever heard from a player to a leave a club,’ the Spaniard posted on Instagram.
‘He is and will stay as a legend for us but please Sadio you want to leave because they pay you more somewhere else and is fair but putting the excuse of the Senegalese people…’
Mane moved to Liverpool in 2016 and is now a club legend having won the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup and Club World Cup.
This past season, he netted 23 and assisted five as Jurgen Klopp’s side came agonisingly close to securing an unprecedented quadruple of trophies and this form, combined with his triumph at the Africa Cup of Nations, has seen him become a frontrunner for this year’s Ballon d’Or alongside Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema.
With just a year left on his contract, Liverpool could be prepared to sell Mane with Bayern readying a £30million bid for the forward, but it is understood that the club’s preference is to keep their star player.
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