Barcelona want Liverpool superstar Sadio Mane.
The astonishing news comes via Spanish publication Sport, and it details how the Catalan club want to bring the Senegalese international into the fold.
Barca will use any money they can save or earn from the possible departure of Lionel Messi to help finance the move, wrote Lluís Miguelsanz.
Not content with trying to poach Gini Wijnaldum out from under Liverpool, the La Liga unit now want to tempt Sadio Mane across the Channel with a huge offer.
New Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman worked with Mane at Southampton and is trying to use that connection to seal the deal, although the chances of Liverpool selling are highly unlikely.
Real Madrid have already tried to sign the 28-year-old, said Sport, but found negotiations impossible and abandoned their pursuit.
A few years ago Jurgen Klopp might have considered selling a star to raise money for general squad improvements. Philippe Coutinho allowed Liverpool to enter a different realm of spending power as they signed Alisson and Virgil van Dijk with Coutinho’s transfer fee.
Now the squad is a lot more complete and a lot more settled. Baring one or two reserve options, Liverpool don’t really need to enter the market – although they might have to start planning for the eventual departure of several key players who are all approaching 30 at the same time.
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Since his arrival from Southampton in 2016 for £37.08 million, Sadio Mane has scored 81 goals and assisted 34 times in 170 games for Liverpool.
Those numbers are exceptional, but it doesn’t tell the full story about Mane’s growth as a footballer. His arrival from the Saints wasn’t universally praised, but the rate at which he’s developed into an elite player has been phenomenal.
With 50 goals across all competitions in the last two seasons, the Senegal international has joined a select tier of footballers – and that leads to interest from teams like Barcelona.
Would you sell Mane? Let us know in the comments below.