Jurgen Klopp Reveals Negative First Impression of 'Rapper' Sadio Mane

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that his first encounter with star forward Sadio Mane many years ago left a negative impression because the player looked like a wannabe ‘rapper’. However, the Reds boss is now happy to admit he was wrong to misjudge.


That initial meeting came when Mane was just beginning his professional career and Klopp was in charge at Borussia Dortmund. Yet despite being put off the youngster, Klopp made sure to keep tabs on the emerging talent, before eventually landing him at Liverpool.

Sadio Mane

Klopp appears in ​Made in Senegal, a new documentary about Mane’s life that is available on Rakuten TV, explaining what his initial thoughts were.

“I remember my first encounter with Sadio. It was in Dortmund. There was a really young guy sitting there. His baseball cap was askew, the blond streak he still has today,” the German said in quotes published by the Daily Mail.

“He looked like a rapper just starting out. I thought, ‘I don’t have time for this’. Our [Dortmund] team back then really wasn’t 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 was I wrong! I followed his further career and continued success at Salzburg. In Southampton he just dominated.”

Mane was at Salzburg until the summer of 2014 when he was picked up by Southampton, where he twice reached double figures in front of goal in the Premier League.

Liverpool moved for the rising superstar in 2016, completing a £34m deal in Klopp’s first summer transfer window at Anfield. Mane himself suggests it was a particular game against Liverpool in March of the previous campaign that sealed it for him.

Liverpool were leading 2-0 at half-time at St Mary’s, with Mane only on the bench for the Saints. But after coming on in the second half he scored twice to level the scores, with the home side then going on to win the game 3-2.

Philippe Coutinho,Sadio Mane

“We turned the game around and I scored twice. I was this insignificant player who had just given a huge performance. Liverpool was a club that notices players who tire them out, so they couldn’t say no and Klopp called my agent,” he explained.


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Source : 90min