I wouldn’t call it tension really.
by NDMike2001 (2022-06-17 13:36:23)

In reply to: Mane apparently has a German agent.  posted by G.K.Chesterton


There was a bit of it during the struggles last year. But everyone was dealing with it. They are both tremendous professionals with great admiration for each other. Very similar in a ton of ways. And in some ways want and respect a little of what the other had.

They are both huge figures in their country. Low maintenance superstars that don’t do any kind of night life. Salah is more revered in his country as an international superstar. But like Messi/Maradona struggles to live up to expectations of carrying a weaker overall club that has had past successes.

Mane on the other hand is truly adored by his people and isn’t overshadowed by the past. The people of Africa/Senegal treat him as a hero and want him to be viewed as the international icon like Salah.

AFCON and WC qualifications were no doubt difficult behind the scenes do to the three straight matches of immense magnitude. And I’m sure they heard a lot of noise. But I never saw anything translate to the pitch. But ultimately Mane was never going to be the international superstar he needed to be as long as he played with Salah. It was almost like Ronaldo overshadowing Benzema - who has probably been the best 9 of his generation (along with Suarez).

Liverpool never really had a chance to re-sign Mane. If they were/are going to break their wage structure it would have to be aided by marketing revenue somehow. Salah is significantly more marketable. For example he has 50M followers to Mane’s 11M on Instagram.

I think Mane ended up where he needed to (RM argument aside). It will be interesting to see how his international image changes.