Sadio Mane believed there was a Southampton conspiracy
Liverpool star Sadio Mane believed there was a conspiracy against him when he was playing for Southampton.
Sadio Mane wasn’t always the massive star that he is now. The Liverpool man was thought of as a massive waste of money when the deal to bring him from Southampton was announced, but he’s quickly proven those critics wrong.
Back in his Saints days, the Senegal international was a bit of a Premier League unknown. He had played well for RB Leipzig, the club that Naby Keita and Takumi Minamino received their European education at, which led to his move to England.
Keita played 23 times in France before moving to Austria, while Mane impressed for Metz before Salzburg bought him.
Southampton still splashed some decent cash on the forward, who cost £20.70 million after he scored 45 goals in 87 games.
25 goals and 14 assists for the Saints in 75 games followed, but he did blow hot and cold and that lead to his suspicion of a conspiracy against him.
Victor Wanyama is currently playing for Montreal Impact under Thierry Henry, but before that he turned out for Southampton before being sold to Tottenham Hotspur in 2016.
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Wanyama chose to share his story, which Goal reported on, and it highlights a really bizarre theory that Sadio Mane had about his teammates down on the south coast.
The two became good friends, which is why the Liverpool star confided in the Kenyan international. And basically, Mane thought the rest of the Saints players weren’t passing to him on purpose.
And to make things up, he begged Wanyama to pass to him whenever he got the ball – which the midfielder did.
"The midfielder said: “At one point, Mane approached me and told me ‘Hi man, these guys do not want to pass the ball to me, can the two of us play closely? They don’t want me to score.’“I reluctantly agreed and anytime I got the ball I would pass it to him though. I wanted to treat him right since he is a good and nice guy.”"
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It’s a really strange story and within it, Mane says the rest of the team didn’t want him to score goals. Wanyama doesn’t go into the hows or whys, but it’s definitely one that could do with some more investigation.