Sadio Mane has been advised to leave Liverpool for Bayern Munich by Senegal manager Aliou Cisse.
The 30-year-old, who has won every top level trophy available to him since moving to Anfield from Southampton for around £35m in 2016, is understood to have informed the club’s hierarchy that he wishes to move on this summer after the UEFA Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid in Paris.
Bayern have had two opening bids rejected for Mane, the latter totalling around £30m. Liverpool are believed to be holding out for around £40m for a player whose contract expires at the end of June 2023.
Now, Cisse has told Mane to go where he ‘feels best’, which he insists is the Bavarian club.
‘I tell my boys to try to work out the contract issues so that when their respective championships resume, they will have already found a base,’ former Birmingham City midfielder Cisse said.
‘I heard about Sadio at Bayern. For me it is a club that is of its standing. Bayern is intense, pressing football with a German coach. Sadio played in Salzburg in Austria which is a border country, and that means he is not going into unknown territory. For me, the club where he will feel the best is Bayern.’
Bayern could lose both star striker Robert Lewandowski and Germany international forward serge Gnabry this summer, with the former out-of-contract in just over a fortnight and the latter’s deal expiring in 2023.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have also lost striker Divock Origi on a free transfer to Ac Milan already this summer, with their frontline set to be further depleted by the expected departure of Japanese forward Takumi Minamino.
The Reds are set to sign Benfica striker Darwin Nunez for a fee beginning at £64m which could eventually rise to £85m, in a deal which could be officially confirmed on Monday.
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