Sadio Mane’s former coach waxes lyrical; perfectly explains why his attributes suit LFC

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This, from a man who worked closely with Sadio Mane for two years, is very promising!

Former Red Bull Salzburg assistant manager Oliver Glasner reckons our £30m Senegalese signing will hit the ground running at Anfield, because his characteristics are perfect for Jurgen Klopp’s style.

Our manager demands all-action physicality both on and off the ball, and Glasner reckons Mane has both in abundance.

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“He’s the type of player who fits perfectly in the philosophy of Jurgen Klopp,” he began.

“He’s very quick. He has a fantastic mentality to work against the ball (and) play very high pressing.

“We always used GPS in training and afterwards the data (said) he was one of the players who ran the most in every training (session).

“He works a lot for the team in defence, which is very important for Liverpool.

“He’s used to doing this from Red Bull Salzburg. He wants to do this because he knows that he will profit, so then he can score goals and make a lot of assists.

“When he came to Salzburg he said: ‘My goal is not to stay in Austria, I want to play in the Premier League.’ That says a lot about his attitude,” said Glasner, speaking to ESPN.

Liverpool fans may get our first chance to check Mane out tomorrow evening in our friendly against Tranmere, the first of pre-season.

The former Saint has been working with the squad for a week now and could line up alongside fellow new signings Loris Karius and Joel Matip, although we don’t expect to see Marko Grujic due to work permit complications. (He’s got one, but needs to go out of the country and back in again before it’s activated…)

Reds were not especially excited at the Mane signing, but that’s largely because he came from feeder club Southampton. If we were acquiring a 24-year-old La Liga or Bundesliga winger who’d plundered 25 goals in two seasons, we reckon the reaction would have been very different.

Klopp makes superstars instead of buying them, and if Glasner’s right, we may have just acquired the perfect cog to slot into our attack.

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