If Sadio Mane was a famous singer instead of an outstanding winger, he would have his own Las Vegas residency by now. That is how legendary his status is.
Mane is one of the greatest African footballers to have played the game. Even at the age of 34, and now playing for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, his approach to football has not changed one bit. He still applies that youthful exuberance — which has come to define his career — to every performance.
It is almost 20 years since a 15-year-old Mane left Bambali, his home village in Senegal, seeking to realise his dreams by joining Generation Foot in Dakar, the country’s capital. Nothing was promised and the road ahead would be long and challenging.
But he succeeded. From there he moved to Metz in France and made his way from their B team into their main squad. Red Bull Salzburg spotted his talent and brought Mane to Austria in 2012, and he spent three seasons there delighting fans. He played 87 games, scored 45 goals and assisted his team-mates 32 times as they won back-to-back league titles and were two-time Austrian Cup winners.
Those numbers and performances were being monitored by Southampton who were delighted to bring Mane’s magic to England in 2014. His hat-trick against Aston Villa in May 2015 was scored in two minutes and 56 seconds. To this day it is the fastest ever hat-trick in Premier League history – one of many highlights on his Saints showreel which finally convinced Jurgen Klopp to sign him.
Klopp had famously rejected the chance to bring Mane to Borussia Dortmund during his time there. The German manager ensured he did not make the same mistake twice when Liverpool signed the Senegalese from Southampton for £34million ($45.8m) in the summer of 2016.
At the time that fee was the subject of ridicule from some. Many thought Liverpool had overspent. But the doubters would soon be eating their words as defenders watched Mane weave in and out and then back in to blast home a finish or set up a team-mate.
It worked out for Mane at Liverpool and then some. Mane tore it up and wrote not just a chapter to his career but a new book completely. He was part of one of the best attacking trios ever unleashed on the Premier League and Champions League alongside Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah.
In 269 Liverpool games, Mane scored 120 goals, supplied 46 assists and won six trophies in six years. He was an integral part of Klopp’s winning machine as Liverpool reached three Champions League finals, winning one against Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid in 2019.
When he signed for Liverpool, Mane was played on the right wing. But when Salah arrived at the club, Klopp moved Mane over to the left. Whether he was happy with the decision or not, he got to work and kept on producing great goals and assists.
Being a right or left-sided player, none of it matters when you are as good as Mane. No matter where he was on the pitch, he put in the same tireless and thrilling displays. But operating in an era when he came up against Manchester City proved a thankless task at times for Liverpool, who may have more trophies to show for had it not been for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Following defeat in the Champions League final in 2018 to Real Madrid, a final in Kyiv in which Mane scored, Liverpool bounced back to win the Champions League in 2019. It came a few days after missing out on the Premier League title to City by a single point, with Liverpool having lost just once in the league that season to accumulate 97 points.
They took the joy from beating Spurs in the final and the hurt of falling short in the title race by the finest of margins and put it into performance after performance. They ran away with the Premier League title in 2019-20 to end a 30-year wait for Liverpool fans. Mane was as crucial as ever to proceedings. He scored 18 goals and provided nine assists in 35 league games.
Shortly after losing the Champions League final to Real Madrid in Paris in 2022, a season when Liverpool won the FA Cup, League Cup and again missed out on the Premier League on the final day to City, it was announced Mane would leave the club.
After six special campaigns, he was bound for Bavaria and a fresh challenge with Bayern Munich. But, while he won the German Cup as well as the Bundesliga title at the first attempt on a dramatic final day, it was far from a perfect move. A return of 12 goals and six assists in 38 games across competitions highlighted his struggle at Bayern.
After a challenging season, Mane moved to Al-Nassr, waving goodbye to the European football scene which he had so heavily influenced and entertained since joining Metz in 2011.
But he left plenty of memories behind. Not least that touch and twizzle against Bayern at the Allianz Arena in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the season Liverpool went on to lift the trophy. Everything about the goal showed an instinctive genius at work, a master of his art who could produce a defining moment out of thin air just as he did when bringing down Virgil van Dijk’s searching pass and turning it into a dazzling bit of Liverpool folklore.
At Al-Nassr he has scored 51 times over three seasons, playing alongside the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Felix and Kingsley Coman.
Where Sadio Mane took his shots
Average
shot distance
12.8 yards
Saudi Pro League, 2025-26, data via Opta
Mane is not just a great footballer, either. He has always made sure the people from Bambali have enjoyed the riches from his successful career, too. He has funded projects – building a hospital, school and football pitch – back home.
Across Senegal he is idolised as a two-time champion of Africa and the nation’s all-time top scorer on 54 goals in 125 appearances. He also ranks as the second-highest appearance maker after Idrissa Gueye. And in what may be his final appearances at a World Cup, Mane, a certified superstar, will be hoping to add even more goals to his tally.
And we will all enjoy watching him at only his second ever World Cup.
