Sadio Mané has explained his decision to turn down a transfer to Manchester United, a year before he eventually made the move to Liverpool instead.
Mané arrived in English football as a little known prospect from Red Bull Salzburg, joining Southampton in the final hours of the 2014 summer transfer window.
The Senegal winger impressed with 10 goals in 30 Premier League games as Southampton rose to seventh in the table, their best finish in 25 years. But Manchester United were resoundingly mocked when rumours of interest in Mané began to emerge in 2015.
It came as United were losing the race for three-time Champions League winner Pedro to Chelsea, and fans and media alike derided switching focus to Mané, still a largely unproven young player.
In hindsight, Mané could have been a sensational signing. After putting up similar numbers for Southampton again in 2015–16, Liverpool completed a £36 million ($47.1 million) deal to take him to Anfield. Mané won six trophies with the Reds—including the Premier League and Champions League. In 2022, he was voted the second best player in the world in that year’s Ballon d’Or rankings.
Mané has admitted he was very interested in joining Manchester United, but the reason he turned down the opportunity was over concerns that he might struggle for regular playing time in a squad that already contained Ángel Di María, Memphis Depay, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie. Incidentally, Di María and Van Persie left that summer, while Depay proved to be a flop.
Van Gaal didn’t do enough to convince Mané that it was the right move at that stage of his career.
“I was talking to Van Gaal at that time. Rooney was there. And Di María was there ... and Depay was there. When they failed to get me, they bought [Anthony] Martial,” Mané explained in a new video from Rio Ferdinand Presents on YouTube.
“Van Gaal called me and he said, ‘Mané, how are you? What are you doing?’ He said, ‘I want you to come to Manchester United.’ Okay, now I’m talking to my agent.
“[Van Gaal said], ‘We’ll see what is the best, because I know you’re a good player and you can help the team, and we can help you also to become a better player. And then I said, ‘Okay, so my question: you have Depay, you have Rooney, you have Di María, you have Van Persie ... so where am I going to play?' That was my question, because me, I want to play.
“He said, ‘I know your talent, you’re good. But if you do good training, good impression, you will play. But we have another player which is also good.’ I was not convinced about his explanation. But at the time, me, I was not ready, I can say. I was young. I still needed someone to help me more. And one or two more years to become what I want to be. Because I was still in Southampton, I was not consistent. And then we said, ‘Okay, we’ll see.’”
Mané went on to reveal a meeting with Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham Hotspur at the club’s training ground around the same time, feeling “more convinced than the Man United project.” Ultimately, he opted to stay put for another year.
“Because Man U was too many ... the problem was too many big players,” he said.
Louis van Gaal’s Star-Studded Man Utd Shopping List
Four years after his 2016 dismissal, days after winning the FA Cup to secure the club’s first major trophy since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, Van Gaal gave an in-depth interview to FourFourTwo and listed all the players he’d wanted the club to sign.
“I wanted Robert Lewandowski, but when this proved difficult, I tried to get Gonzalo Higuaín instead. Before I had arrived, I also spoke with the board about Neymar,” the Dutchman said.
“If you are at United, you have to think big—[Neymar] was also interesting for the club in terms of selling shirts, and I wanted to have quick wingers. For that reason, I also tried to get Sadio Mané and Riyad Mahrez.
Opening it up into other positions, Van Gaal added: “Thomas Müller was on my wish list, too, and in central midfield, I wanted N’Golo Kanté. I even tried to sign James Milner, who was already quite old but very multifunctional and possessed leadership skills. For the defence, I wanted Sergio Ramos and Mats Hummels, because ours wasn’t the strongest in building from the back.
“Those were my top targets, but we couldn’t get any of them. I don’t know why, because as the manager I wasn’t involved in any negotiations. After I left, players like Mahrez and Kanté ended up at Manchester City and Chelsea, while United couldn’t get them. I found that very odd.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Sadio Mane Reveals Why He Rejected Man Utd Transfer Before Joining Liverpool.
