After passing the medical check at FC Bayern, Sadio Mané presented himself for the first time in his new jersey and gave autographs.
Only the signature under his contract, which should probably run until 2025, is still missing. Sadio Mané, the Munich newcomer from Liverpool FC, will strengthen the record champions from the new season. But what kind of guy is the Senegalese?
Run off to be a pro soccer player
From a young age, Sadio Mané only had football on his mind. At the age of 15, the prominent new signing of FC Bayern from Senegal escaped from home to fulfill his dream of life as a professional soccer player. He now lives on with the German record champions.
Becoming a professional soccer player – many dream of it, very few make it. The place where Mané grew up in a family of 18 is called Bambali and is 400 kilometers southeast of the capital Dakar.
“I remember when I was little my parents felt that I should study to become a teacher,” said Mané, who at the time idolized Ronaldinho and his compatriot El Hadji Diouf. “They thought football was a waste of time and I would never make it,” he told Bleacher Report. Never before had a boy from the village made it into the national league. But it was different with him.
Via youth academy to Metz
One day, 15-year-old Mané rushed to Dakar. Only his best friend knew about his plans to audition for the clubs there. But his mother – the father died when Mané was seven – brought him back again. Mané went to school for another year and then tried again. Through the Senegalese youth academy “Génération Foot” he came to France in 2011 to FC Metz, for whom he played 23 competitive games in the second and third French leagues. He then moved to FC Red Bull Salzburg in Austria.
Stern rises in Salzburg – move to England
And this is where his star rose, despite some lack of discipline. Under coach Roger Schmidt and his co Oliver Glasner (now Eintracht Frankfurt), he scored 32 goals in 63 games for Salzburg and became a Senegalese international and learned German. In 2014 he moved to the Premier League to Southampton FC (67 games, 21 goals between 2014 and 2016) and finally to Liverpool FC.
The 30-year-old (196 games, 90 goals) celebrated his greatest successes with the “Reds”: In 2019 he won the Champions League under Jürgen Klopp, he also became English champion in 2020 and last season won the FA Cup and League Cup in England .
For Senegal: Sadio Mané
Lots of praise from Schmidt and Klopp
So now the change to Munich in the next European top league, which he would like to put his stamp on. His ex-coach Roger Schmidt is certain that this will succeed: “Mané can strengthen any team, including FC Bayern,” said the Benfica coach, who considers Mané a “world-class player”. Jürgen Klopp, who would have liked to keep Mané in Liverpool, says: “He’s a machine (…), an outstanding player. This mix of physicality, commitment and technique is enormous.”
Mané has matured both as a player and as a person. After the death of his father, he had to take on responsibility for the family early on. He is now doing the same for his home village, because he has never forgotten his roots. A school and a hospital were built there with his financial help, among other things. The children in Bambali look up to Mané. As he once did to his idols.
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Source: BR24 Sport 06/20/2022 – 12:54 p.m
