Sadio Mané : The marquee signing negatively impacting the clubs involved due to the complacent feeling it brought both camp

After six years with the Anfield landlords, Sadio Mané turned down an extension with a year left on his contract to join Bayern Munich in a £35 million move in the summer.

What was anticipated is how Liverpool will get on in time from the loss of a player who has been at the heart of their success in recent years and even though the Reds have prepared replacements, it is not that easy establishing the level of consistency the Senegalese has delivered.

For a Bayern Munich that loss star striker Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona in the same summer, the addition of Sadio Mané meant another world class player comes in the wake of the departure of one but clearly different players.

Bayern needed to bring in a striker to replace Lewandowski but made a 17-year old Mathys Tel their only signing in that department. Bayern would have thought Sadio Mané will play more as a striker and decided to go into the season without a proper replacement for Lewandowski.

𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥'𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐧é

Liverpool so far this season have recorded only nine points from their opening six games in the league, winning only two and have already lost once as early as the third Gameweek, whereas it took them until the eleventh league game to record a first loss last season.

It is their worst start to a season under Jürgen Klopp and the Champions League 4-1 humiliation in the hands of Napoli is spelling trouble for their German manager as he could be next in line to lose his job if the poor results persists.

𝐈𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐧é ?

Of course this should not even be a question as Mané was an important player in the Jürgen Klopp set up. His ability to play anywhere across the front three attacking positions made him a very crucial player for The Reds.

Alongside the duo of Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, they formed a formidable trident that made the reign of Klopp at the club a productive one.

The versatility of the three really helped made things easy for Liverpool. Even though none of them is a striker by nature, they were able to adapt to the role and understand the etiquettes of being a top class striker.

Their positionings, knowing when to make runs behind and when to come deep for a pass. Their pressing and work rate, playmaking, dribbling and passing. Ability to retain possession and mostly, their explosive pace.

The understand amongst the trio was priceless and will forever be remembered and appreciated by the crowd at Anfield in years to come.

However, Roberto Firmino was the first to fall in the pecking order following the signing of Diogo Jota, who proved to be more than just a squad player and eventually rose above the less productive Brazilian, who was not helped by injuries at that time.

Jota possesses some rare quality for a striker of his physic and with time, the chemistry with Salah and Mané was extended to the Portuguese striker.

Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah however remained indispensable even after the arrival of Luis Diaz in January. Luis Diaz who joined from Porto looked like he has settled down quick well after impressing since completing his £37 million move.

His arrival made Klopp moved Mané from wide to the centre of the attack. Despite all being wingers by nature, the trio of Salah, Mane and Diaz played together and Mané's ability and unselfishness was really helpful to make things easy for the Colombian.

However, with the responsibility now solely on Diaz, filling the shoes of a proven player is not that easy even with the quality of the Colombian because Mane offers much more than just the goals and assists.

Nonetheless, what contributed majorly to the troubles of Liverpool is the unavailability of Liverpool's first choice midfielders. In the absence of three fully fit Central midfielders, Liverpool have been forced to play with different options in the middle of the park so far.

Klopp has fielded five different midfield combinations in six league games this season following the injury to Thiago Alcantara on the opening day draw at Craven Cottage accompanied by the dip in form of captain, Jordan Henderson.

Fabinho has also had his share of fitness issues and these absences has forced Jürgen Klopp to play the likes of Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho in the middle, players whom are not suited to the German's style of football.

Being a proponent of Gengenpressing, playing three centre Midfielders has brought Klopp more joy and success. The energy they bring to the play when attacking or defending makes it so much easy for the attackers and defenders respectively.

Liverpool were a very difficult team to score against but in the absence of these set of midfielders, they've managed to keep one clean sheet in eight games this season.

The likes of Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho might have the technical abilities but are not as effective in the Liverpool system as the traditional Central midfielders because they offer little to nothing defensively and even in attack, they get in the way of the wingers, when trying to flex their creativity.

Darwin Nunez is expected to make up the front three alongside Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz but the Uruguayan is still unsettled and will be needing more time to do so with evidence of what has been seen so far.

All these have played a part in Liverpool's struggles up to this time, which is expected to be eased in the coming weeks with first team players slowly returning to full fitness.

Sadio Mané has been a huge miss as his availability would have helped added more steel in this period. Nonetheless, Liverpool knew they have to get on without him. The effect would not have been this severe but injuries has have part to play in their misfortunes as well.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐧é ?

Three wins, three draws and nine points from their opening six league games is Bayern's worst start to a league season since the 2010/11 season, when they finished third behind Champions, Borussia Dortmund and runners up, Bayer Leverkusen.

The loss of Robert Lewandowski is surely having it's toll. One might want to say that is not the case as Julian Nagelsmann’s side have already scored 19 goals from their opening six Bundesliga games.

However, the trouble is, the goals have not been coming when they really needed them the most. That is where the Robert Lewandowski factor comes in.

Bayern are one of the most entertaining clubs on the planet and have not really been known for shutting out their opponents from scoring. They just appear to always score more than their opponents, making them a really interesting side to watch.

Despite having arguably the best goalkeeper in the world, the highest number of clean sheets Manuel Neuer has had in a league season is 15, which is very low compared to other top Goalkeepers even in more competitive leagues.

Robert Lewandowski was a clutch player for the Bavarians in his eight seasons at the club. He is known for scoring goals and has risen to the status of one of the best strikers around.

The Pole average 29.5 league goals per season in his years with Bayern and has scored a total of 110 league goals in his final three seasons there in Germany. Bayern might be one of the best teams in the world but their reliance on Lewandowski’s magic can't be undermine.

Losing him meant losing a 50 goals per season player and that needed fixing but Bayern felt they have done the needful following the addition of Sadio Mané as a marquee signing in the summer.

Already having wingers like Leroy Sané, Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry as options on the flanks, bringing in Sadio Mané and not another top striker only means Nagelsmann sees the Senegalese as the replacement for Lewandowski, though not that much of a direct replacement.

Sadio Mané, who played the second half of last season as a false 9 due to Jürgen Klopp's decision to let Luis Diaz play on the wide in preparation to getting him ready to permanently replace Mané as it was becoming more obvious the Senegalese won't extend his stay at the club.

Mané did not look like enjoying playing in the role but did flourished anyways owing to his versatility, combining with Mohamed Salah to create danger for the opponents with his impositioning and hectic work rate.

He was also very productive. Sadio Mané scored a total of twelve goals and registered two assists in 18 games played as a center forward last season, which on percentage is more than the eleven goals and three assists he managed as a left-winger.

Despite how seemingly good Mané is in that position, he does not close to Lewandowski when it comes to putting the ball in the back of the net. Mané scored 111 goals in seven years in the Premier League, which is only one more than what Lewandowski produced for Bayern in his final three seasons in the league.

At Bayern, chances will be created and attackers will score goals but can they score them as frequent as Lewandowski did in his time there ? That is a big question Bayern will now know that the answer is currently not in their squad.

Though Mané is a winger but Bayern's fault is thinking he will cover for the departure of Lewandowski. It is already difficult enough replacing arguably the best striker in the world and not signing a new striker won't make things any easier.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 i𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐧é 𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐧 ?

For Liverpool, it is obvious in their struggles so far that Sadio Mané’s presence would have been a huge help. His presence would increase the level of competition in the squad and players will have to put in better performance to maintain their spot.

Darwin Nunez was signed in a deal potentially rising to €100 million but after impressing on his debut in the Community Shield and the Premier League, he has looked lost and out of place lately.

The presence of Mané would have meant Nuñez’s shortcomings so far have no effect on their play and would also ease pressure on the Uruguayan, giving him the needed time to settle down in his new environment.

Liverpool thought they are all set without Mané but clearly need more than attacking reinforcement without the former Southampton forward. Midfielders are also needed because they can need more steel in the middle, which the current attackers do not really bring.

Harvey Elliott always dazzle whenever he plays but as much as he is not the kind of player needed in a midfield of Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool's struggles is not ending anytime soon.

For Bayern, had they not sign Sadio Mané, they would have put in more effort in bringing in a striker in the summer to replace Robert Lewandowski.

The signing of Mathys Tel can only be seen as a preparation for the future as the 17-year old still has a lot to learn before becoming a frequent member of the starting XI at the club.

Robert Lewandowski has scored six league goals for his new club Barcelona and has also bagged a hat-trick in the Champions League, taking his tally to nine in six games. Both Mané and Tel have just four between them in the league and haven't scored in the Champions League.

That is what Bayern are missing and even if it was inevitable for them to keep Lewandowski in the summer, they could have gone for  striker replacement but the signing of Mané literally influenced the decision.

Sadio Mané will star for Bayern but surely can not fill the void left by Lewandowski. It is not his fault that Bayern failed ti sign another striker but it was his signing that brought the complacent feeling to the club.

It was a dream move for Mané but could have got even better had Bayern signed another striker in the summer. It would be a difficult season for Bayern, mostly in Europe when they come up against other top teams.

However, the situation could still be fixed in the January transfer window and the World Cup also presents them the needed break to try and solve their problems.

But before then, they play Barcelona twice in the Champions League, facing a beast they created in Robert Lewandowski. How Bayern and their attack fare against a team that has conceded only two goals this season will be crucial in deciding whether or not the attack is okay to see out the season.

Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi