Louis Saha, the former Everton and Manchester United forward, says Sadio Mane is criminally underrated – claiming he is a more consistent player than Mo Salah and deserves more recognition.
Last week, Virgil van Dijk named Roberto Firmino as the best player he has ever played with, but Saha says that he should have picked out Mane, because he was the one who stepped up when Salah went through a period of not scoring last season.
Speaking to Stadium Astro, Saha said: “For me, [Sadio] Mane is the most consistent one. He’s dangerous in every game. We’ve seen Salah sometimes being off and not inspired but Mane has been very consistent.
“He is underrated in terms of the rankings for Ballon D’Or. The rankings surprised me – he wasn’t even in the top 10. For me, it’s a shocker.
“He’s been the most consistent player at Liverpool, more than Salah. When Salah wasn’t scoring over seven or eight games, Mane was here.”
The Reds have got so many world-class players at the moment that whoever Van Dijk picked, someone would have said he should have gone with someone else.
In terms of the Ballon d’Or, Mane has a genuine chance, but Van Dijk is surely the favourite.
He picked up the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award after the Champions League group stage draw on Thursday and remains the most likely to pick up that accolade in December.