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Often under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool would buy decent players and turn them into superstars, with Sadio Mane being one of the best examples of this.

The Senegalese forward was a solid Premier League player at Southampton and the Reds snapped him up for just £34m, with the Reds selling him six years later for a £1m profit after he helped them win five trophies.

However, things could have been so different and Mane once admitted that he would have signed for Manchester United instead if it was not for what Klopp told him.

Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images

Liverpool and Manchester United have, of course, been fierce rivals for a very long time, so players do not often have to pick between playing for one or the other.

Mane did, however, and he even revealed back in 2022 that he had a contract agreed with them before joining Liverpool in 2016, but Klopp managed to get him to change his mind.

“I have to say, I was really close to going to Manchester United,” Mane said to The Telegraph in 2022.

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“I had the contract there.

I still remember the first time I got the call from Klopp.

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“I was watching TV and he said, ‘Sadio, listen, I want to explain to you what happened at Dortmund’.

And I said, ‘Okay, Dortmund is behind us, let’s focus on the future’.

“He said, ‘We have a big project at Liverpool and I want you to be part of it’.

I could see myself in all the positions.”

Klopp managed to sign some elite level talent during his tenure at the club, including the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Alisson Becker, but Mane is one of the best.

He netted 120 goals and registered 46 assists during his six years at Liverpool, with the Senegalese considered as one of the world’s best at certain points throughout his career.

The Reds have never quite managed to replace him since he departed for Bayern Munich, a move which never really worked out for him.

Luis Diaz was supposed to be the heir to his throne but he never carried the goal threat that Mane once did, with the Colombian now also trying his hand at the Bundesliga champions.

It is strange how minor details can have a huge impact on the bigger picture, but Klopp’s call was certainly one of the best things to happen to Liverpool in a long time.


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