Sadio Mane’s agent has rejected claims that his client chose to move to Liverpool in the summer purely because of financial benefits. The Senegalese forward has been badly missed by Liverpool during the month of January. The club failed to win a single league game during this month. Performances improved dramatically after the return of the 24-year-old to the point where he scored two goals against Tottenham to register Liverpool’s first league win of 2017. The 2-0 win over Tottenham was extremely important for the club, who were slipping down the league table like a rock in the sky.
Liverpool have an impressive win rate when Mane is in the team. He has been one of the best buys for the club in the last few years. However, there was a significant possibility of Liverpool losing out to none other than Tottenham when it came to his signature. Spurs would have clearly benefited from a player like Mane on the right wing. It would allow Christian Eriksen to move to the left with Dele Alli in the centre of the supporting three. Yet, the speedster appears to have chosen a move to Anfield. His agent, Bezemer, said:
“Sadio had five offers in the summer and financially all of them were good. We wanted the right team, with the right coach at the right moment to arrive at the next level. He was quoted by Liverpool Echo.
“That is the reason Sadio went to Anfield.”
Mane is on a contract worth around £90,000 per week. Even though Liverpool have a strict wage structure just like Tottenham, this figure is considerably higher than what some of the Tottenham star players receive. Even though Dele Alli is one of the influential players at the club, he is reported to be under contract only worth around £60,000 per week. After a lot of delays, striker Harry Kane was given an assurance that he would be the best-paid player at the club. Yet, he is still only on £90,000 per week even now.
In contrast, Philippe Coutinho recently signed a new long-term contract that saw his wages increased to a whopping £150,000 per week. It is expected that Liverpool would also be ready to negotiate terms with Mane if the 24-year-old continues with the same vein of form.
The wage structure has been a major disadvantage for Tottenham when it comes to attracting the top players. It is believed that the club lost out to Chelsea for the signing of Michy Batshuayi largely because of their reluctance to offer the 22-year-old in excess of £110,000 per week. Yet, this policy has also enabled Tottenham to be one of the best in the Premier League. They have been able to build a 60,000 seater stadium at a whopping cost of £750 million largely because of this stringent wage policy.
