FC Bayern is looking forward to starting preparations together with its new superstar Sadio Mané. The goalscorer made his breakthrough in one of the top European leagues while playing for RB Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga. A former teammate still remembers the hitman at the time.
Youngster Mané scored 31 goals in a total of 63 league games for Salzburg. He was under contract with the Austrian industry leader for two seasons from 2012 to 2014 and played together with other later stars such as Peter Gulácsi, Kevin Kampl (now both RB Leipzig) and Martin Hinteregger (most recently Eintracht Frankfurt).
Christian Schwegler also played with the new Bayern star for Salzburg during this time and still remembers his former team-mate very well.
“Sadio was already a rocket back then,” said the 38-year-old in an interview with “kicker”. Schwegler listed what the Senegalese’s great strengths were from a young age, which made him a world star only a little later in the Liverpool jersey: “Wingers often approach defenders at great speed. If he got the ball, he often waited on the defender and then exploded with his attack. He put the ball in front and was extremely fast in the first meters.”
Sadio Mané celebrated huge successes at Liverpool FC
He also had the right instinct to score his own goals. “But not in a selfish way, he just wanted to do things himself. This good goal rate on the wing distinguished him, he was also able to prepare,” explained Schwegler, who ended his career at FC Luzern last summer.
The former defender also praised the clear career plan at Sadio Mané. After his breakthrough at RB Salzburg, he built the intermediate station FC Southampton between 2014 and 2016, where he attracted attention for the first time in an absolute top league in England.
In 2016, team manager Jürgen Klopp took the decisive step to the Reds. Mané then celebrated huge successes with Liverpool FC, winning the Champions League (2019), the English Championship (2020) and the FA Cup (2022).