Africa Sports
Sadio Mane’s agent opens up on Bayern exit, alleges racism, ingratitude against Bayern boss’s
He said the club wondered why an African could be the highest earner, hence, they gave Mane an option of becoming a third-choice winger in the team.
Cisse, who labelled Bayern ungrateful, said the club did not contact Mane’s representative on his sale.
“It wasn’t a footballing decision (to sell him). Sadio’s salary bothered the Germans, they didn’t understand how an African joins the club and becomes the top earner ahead of everyone, so they wanted to get rid of him. They never called the player’s representatives. They never told Sadio face-to-face that they wanted to get rid of him. They just sent (Thomas) Tuchel to tell him that he will be a third-choice left winger. Sadio has nothing to prove to the Germans. He didn’t become what he’s become thanks to Bayern. It was thanks to Liverpool. Bayern were ungrateful. They were paying an African all this money, and that hurt them,” he said as quoted by Goal.
Mane earned £250,000-per-week at Bayern which was £150,000 more than he earned at Liverpool in his final years.
Meanwhile, Bayern manager, Thomas Tuchel speaking on Mane’s departure admitted that the Senegalese has left on an unwanted note.
“Leaving Bayern hurts me. I would have wished for a different ending. We had a long, big hug and we both agreed that we don’t like what’s happening now, but we think it’s for the best in this situation,” He told Sky Germany.
“Sometimes things don’t work out as everybody wants it to work out. In person, I have always had a very good relationship with him and this will stay. I can totally understand that he feels hurt and I also wouldn’t feel happy if things like this happened.
“Obviously it’s something that we didn’t bring into the full potential, which is my job and my responsibility, but in this particular situation, it was the best solution to untie the knot, ”
Mane’s first year at Bayern was nothing short of disappointing, although he got off to flying start which saw him score 3 goals in his first three league games, a dip in form and consistent injuries relegated him to the bench and subsequently worsened the situation with an altercation with teammate Leroy Sane after their game against Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League.
The two-time African Footballer of the Year ended up in the bad books of the Bavarians following the misconduct, hence, the decision to let go of him.
Sadio Mane has now become the latest big name to join the Saudi Pro League in a deal worth £34 million.
He has now become the highest-paid African footballer with £661,000 weekly and £34.37 million yearly tax-free earnings at Al Nassr.
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Source: www.ghanaweb.com