Sorry Jurgen, but even if you’re not getting excited yet – we are!
When Sadio Mane arrived from Southampton this summer for a fee that could rise to £34m, many fans were skeptical that we’d overpaid for a player from the South Coast having missed out on more exotic options – like, say – Mario Gotze for example…
But throughout pre-season Mane showed what he’s going to offer our attack, and in the two competitive fixtures he’s played so far – away to Arsenal and Burton – he’s been nothing short of exhilarating.
SEE MORE:
Liverpool player ratings v Burton: Mane & Matip enjoy terrific outings
So much for the period of adaptation allowed when moving to a big club…
The 24-year-old scored a screamer versus Arsenal and added two superb assists in the EFL Cup last night. If he’d have played versus Burnley, perhaps our attack wouldn’t have looked so blunt – but Klopp is keen not to get ahead of himself.
“I like this player but I do not like talking about him too much,” he told post-match reporters.
“We do not have to celebrate ourselves every day just because we have bought him. We have to try and improve.
“There is nothing else to say about this at the moment.”
Mane is already one of the first names on our team-sheet, and we hope he can put in a similarly dynamic performance away to Spurs next weekend. We’ve got an international break to contend with after the trip to White Hart Lane, and it’s always horrible waiting two weeks to play following a defeat.