Rumours surfaced earlier this month, suggesting Paris Saint Germain are looking to sign Liverpool star Sadio Mane, who has been in PSG’s thoughts for a while. While it won’t be an easy buy, the French champions are reportedly ready to approach the Reds to acquire the Senegalese forward should Neymar leave PSG this summer for Barcelona or Real Madrid, as he has hinted numerous times before.
The ongoing rumours of Neymar’s departure started an avalanche of rumours of who will PSG bring as a replacement and while there are many solid players out there, PSG’s eyes are set on Mane, who according to them should prove to be a perfect man to fill the void. The Brazillian star has been linked with a move back to Barcelona for quite some time now and while the transfer did not happen during summer, the speculations and rumours did not die out.
Adding to the said rumours, Neymar has also been linked with a move to Barcelona’s rivals – Real Madrid, who just like their LaLiga counterparts would be able to secure a deal no matter the Neymar’s cost. Considering Neymar is not happy with his stay in France, one deal or another is highly likely to come true and while there are no official announcements to date, we can expect some movement comes next transfer window.
If and when Neymar finally decides to pack his bags to leave France for a warmer and more familiar Spain or any other club for that matter, PSG will be in a need to replace him and according to recent reports, PSG have set their eyes on Mane who is said to be on their shortlist and is considered as their number one priority. That being said, it’s fair to assume Jurgen Klopp won’t be keen on letting his star striker go considering he just recently signed a contract which ties him with Anfield until 2023. Should, however, he agree on a deal, we can expect Klopp to ask for a rather large sum of money from the French champions. Nonetheless, should PSG sell Neymar at the price they bought him, we can be sure they won’t have any financial issues to make the deal happen.
Those, however, are all only speculations, as Klopp would indeed be very hesitant to let one of his most important players leave Anfield next summer, especially considering his growing importance for Reds over the past couple of seasons. The Senegalese striker scored a total of 29 goals last season and is currently the top EPL scorer of Liverpool with 10 goals, which sits him at fifth place on the 2019/20 EPL top goalscorers leaderboard, behind Sterling and Kane with 11, Danny Ings, Tammy Abraham and Rashford with 12, Aubameyang with 13 and Vardy who has scored an impressive 17 goals so far this season.
We have to ask ourselves, however, what amount of money would persuade Klopp to let Mane leave. We would, of course, be talking about a colossal sum, but as we have learned before, every player has a price and considering the wealthy PSG are on the other side of this deal, seeing them offer a record-breaking deal is not entirely out of the question. And rightfully so, seeing how Mane has become one of the deadliest strikers in European football and considering his seemingly never-stopping improvement, the 27-year-old’s value is bound to only increase in the upcoming seasons.
Mane is currently priced at approximately €150 million in market value. With that in mind, we can safely assume Klopp would be asking somewhere in the range of €200 million or possibly even more.
