Sadio Mane has apologised for not visiting his homeland of Senegal to parade his Confederation of African Football Player of the Year award.
The Liverpool forward won the award in Egypt on Tuesday and had planned to head to Senegalese capital Dakar on Wednesday, where a ceremony had been arranged at the Museum of Black Civilisations and President Macky Sall was due to make an appearance.
But league leaders Liverpool stated that “travel disruption beyond both his and the club’s control” meant that Mane could not make the trip, though he will do so as soon as possible “in recognition of the support many in his country had given him on his journey towards receiving the prestigious prize”.
Instead, the 27-year-old forward will return to England to prepare for the Reds’ trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening.
“I am of course very happy and proud to win this award and I want to dedicate it to everyone who has helped me on my way from the very beginning,” Mane told Liverpool’s website after arriving back at Melwood Training Ground.
“It was my plan to first fly to Senegal to thank the people of my country and recognise them for everything they have given me on my journey, but unfortunately we were unable to make the visit.
“Now we have a big match against Tottenham this weekend which I must focus on and be ready for, but it is true I am disappointed I was unable to return home to say thank you because of some problems beyond our control.
“So, I will return to Senegal as soon as possible because it is something very important to me – I will never forget what everybody did for me, everybody who believed in me and everybody who gave me the chance to play football.”
For his achievements of wining the Champions League and scoring 30 goals last season, Mane is the first Senegalese player to win CAF Player of the Year since El Hadji Diouf in 2002 – who was also playing for Liverpool at the time.
Mane will return home in March, when Senegal are set to start their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign, but it remains to be seen if he will travel to the West African nation before that to celebrate his award.
