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Sadio Mane targeted Manchester United transfer after Jurgen Klopp snub


Sadio Mane was considering Manchester United before Liverpool made their move (Visionhaus)

Sadio Mane admits he was targeting a move to Manchester United before he ended up joining Liverpool.

The Premier League leaders signed Mane in a £34 million deal from Southampton in 2016.

But Klopp turned down the opportunity to land Mane while he was manager of Borussia Dortmund.

In the newly released documentary, Made in Senegal, Klopp recalls that the forward looked like a young rapper and explained why Mane did not make the move to the Bundesliga.

‘It was in Dortmund,’ Klopp said in the documentary.

‘There was a really young guy sitting there. His baseball cap was askew, the blond streak he still has today… he looked like a rapper just starting out.

Jurgen Klopp turned down the chance to sign Sadio Mane for Borussia Dortmund (Getty Images)

‘I thought ‘I don’t have time for this’.

‘Our team back then really wasn’t that bad. I needed someone who could handle not being a starter at the very beginning, someone I could develop.

‘I’d say I have a pretty good feeling for people, but I was wrong. I followed his further career and continuing success in Salzburg. In Southampton he just dominated.

‘It was great [when he signed for Liverpool]. Sadio wanted to work with me as much as I did with him, so it was a win-win situation.’

When asked by The Times if he saw a move to Liverpool coming, Mane said: ‘Not really.

‘We [Mane and his agent] were thinking most about Manchester United.

‘That was a tough time for me as I was on the bench so I was not thinking about anyone calling me but I was pleased he [Klopp] did and was not thinking I was a rapper.’

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