‘I spoke with a bit of humour and it was all over the world’: Sadio Mane defends his comments after saying he would ‘do what Senegalese people want’ and leave Liverpool as he insists he ‘respects the club a lot’ amid links to Bayern Munich
- Sadio Mane appeared to suggest that his time at Liverpool was over on Friday
- He hinted that he was going to leave Liverpool to please Senegalese people
- He has now claimed that he was only joking when he made those comments
- Mane insists that he respects Liverpool, and does not want to upset the fans
- However, he is still being linked with Bayern Munich and his future is uncertain
Sadio Mane has insisted that he did not intend to offend Liverpool fans after recently suggesting that he would leave the club this summer to please the majority of the Senegalese people.
Mane has been heavily linked with Bayern Munich in recent days as the German giants are keen to bring him to the Allianz Arena.
The forward appeared to indicate that his time at Liverpool was up when speaking at a press conference on Friday.
Sadio Mane told reporters on Friday that he was going to leave Liverpool as the majority of Senegalese people wanted him to
It appeared that he was bidding farewell to Liverpool after making those comments
‘I respect the fans and team but 60 to 70 per cent of Senegalese want me to leave Liverpool? I’ll do what they want,’ he told reporters.
Mane’s comments caused a stir, especially as he has become a popular figure at Anfield over the past six years.
During this period, he has scored 120 goals in 269 appearances, and has won every domestic trophy available plus the Champions League with Jurgen Klopp’s side.
He proved his importance to the team once more last term, scoring 23 times as the Reds won a domestic cup double.
The 30-year-old has now moved to clarify what he meant, claiming that he was only making light-hearted remarks, which he did not expect to be taken so seriously.
Mane has built a strong relationship with Liverpool fans, players and coaches since 2016
He has now clarified that he was only joking when he made his comments on Friday
‘I spoke yesterday while joking with a bit of humour and it was everywhere,’ Mane said, as quoted by journalist Cissokho Sahel.
‘I think we’ll stop there. Liverpool is a club I respect a lot. The fans adopted me since day one. Regarding the future, we’ll see.’
His club future may be unclear right now, but that did not affect Mane on the pitch on Saturday as he netted a hat-trick for Senegal.
He dispatched two spot-kicks either side of another strike, leading his country to a 3-1 win in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Benin.
Mane became Senegal’s all-time leading goalscorer in the process as he took his international tally to 32 goals, moving him three clear of former record holder Henri Camara.
Mane was in fine form on Saturday as he scored a hat-trick for Senegal against Benin