It turns out that Bayern Munich is as worried about Robert Lewandowski as Liverpool.
One of the biggest moves in a summer full of big moves saw Bayern and the Bundesliga’s all-time second top scorer Take a flight to BarcelonaMane has already signed his replacement.
It was seen as a work of genius from club sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic to have the Senegalese ready to go before Liverpool had even lost the Champions League final to Real Madrid – much to Jurgen Klopp’s dismay.
But however big a loss for the Reds Mane has been, Lewandowski’s departure is arguably being felt even more, with Mane struggling to fill some generational scoring boots.
The 30-year-old has a respectable eight goals in 15 games so far this season, but that’s still Lewandowski’s standard return is a bit lower than the averageBarca’s newest member, Xavier, has 14 of 12
Mane came to life during Senegal’s first ever Africa Cup of Nations win in February, and with Klopp using him as a centre forward, the player began getting Ballon d’Or shouts for his part in an epic quadruple challenge.
However, neither Reds nor their former no.10 are in the playoffs. They have been pretty much the same since., and it isn’t just down to a lack of scoring.
“The man fits into the Bayern team like tofu in white sausage,” columnist Alex Steudel wrote for Sport1 TV channel and website. “Mane messes everything up.
“Sometimes he plays on the left and, of all people, pushes Leroy Sane to the right, sometimes he plays in the centre of the attack, where he is hopelessly overwhelmed. Mane is the fieldwalker who never arrives.
“And it’s been like this all the time, but nobody says it out loud: Mane for Lewandowski – who actually came up with this nonsense?
“He’s only playing because Serge Gnabry’s in trouble and Kingsley Coman was first suspended and then injured – and sometimes when Sane kindly swerved to the right.
“With Mane, the Bayern attack is in constant imbalance. Everybody can see it. The result: This season has had the worst start since 2010. Mane is not solely responsible, but he bears a fair share of the blame.”
The Lewandowski comparisons go further too, with Mane now the Bundesliga’s highest-paid player, it was recently confirmed.
On €22million a year, or £368,000 per-week by English standards, he’s ahead of Manuel Neuer as Germany’s top earner, but so far hasn’t been as crucial.
In fact, in a 1-0 loss to Augsburg which BILD labelled a ‘crisis’ he was even outshot by the goalkeeper who twice got away efforts after coming up for a stoppage time corner.
Even German football finance outlet Transfermarkt has had its say, with their new valuations taking his market value from £63m down to £54m, a drop only few can match.
Furthermore, he’s yet to bag a crucial goal yet for Bayern, with six of his eight strikes coming in hammerings Bayern won by four or more goals.
His manager, Julian Nagelsmann, is confident that Mane can turn things around, but admitted it’s up to him to start finding the net.
“The performance is the responsibility of the coaching team to get him where we want him to be,” the German said. “To put you in the best position, in the process – and in the end it’s the player’s job to implement that.
“In the end he has to help implement the plan, then he is a great support. In the end, it’s the player’s job to implement what the coach tells him to do. Then he will quickly find his way back to top form, I’m in good spirits.”
Klopp too was also asked about the forward’s lack of form, and sounded even more confident.
“Sadio will continuously up his performance limit. He always does,” Liverpool boss explainsSky Sports. “Not every week, nobody does that. However, it happens with a very high frequency.
“Sadio is an outstanding player. He is absolutely world class.”
Is he missing him?
“He’s good guy and a top player. It sounds like he is missing, but I still want him to be here. I think it’s totally okay that Sadio just wanted to do something different.”
Well so far his ‘something different’ isn’t exactly going to plan, and if Darwin Nunez can help you find the netIt could be Liverpool, who surprise win from their summer of striker dominos, that is the case.
