Former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has admitted his bemusement at the fact that Liverpool are willing to offload Sadio Mane this summer and claimed that Bobby Firmino should be heading out of Merseyside rather than the Senegal International.
The former Southampton man is believed to be nearing a move to Bayern Munich but the Bundesliga giants are yet to meet the Reds’ valuation for the 30-year-old and have reportedly had two bids already rejected.
But Jordan is surprised that Jurgen Klopp is looking to offload his No. 10 and ‘break up’ the ‘irresistible dynamic’ that his side has ‘up top’.
“I can’t get my head round whether this is the player’s salary demands, because some people are ruminating that it’s the player’s salary demands, other people are saying it’s because he’s reached the end of the line with Liverpool and he wants a different challenge,” he told talkSPORT (via the Liverpool Echo).
“We can’t get traction on which one it is but I wouldn’t want Mane to go. I wouldn’t want to break up that irresistible dynamic they’ve got up top.
“If they’re going to let anyone go, I know Firmino’s an integral part of the way Liverpool play at times because he’s such a clever creative player, but if I’m going to let one of them go it would probably be Firmino because of the age and to some extent the amount of games he plays.
“You’ve got the new kid in, Diaz, so with that in mind I really wouldn’t want to be losing Mane.”
The Anfield outfit are believed to be moving in on a deal to sign Darwin Nunez from Benfica this summer – a £68m bid was reportedly tabled earlier today with Manchester United also monitoring the Uruguayan’s situation.
Luis Diaz has certainly impressed since arriving from FC Porto in January but it looks like he may have played his last game alongside Mane.
If Nunez does make the switch to Merseyside this summer, you’d expect Diaz to occupy the left wing role, with Mo Salah on the opposite flank and Nunez down the middle when the new season gets underway in August.
Although if we lose Mane it would be a huge blow as he is currently one of the best players in the world, our front three would still be stacked with enough quality to challenge for football’s biggest prizes once again next term.
Bobby Firmino remains a huge favourite amongst Red supporters and can still chip in with a big goal now and again, but it’s clear that he’s no longer viewed as a regular starter under our German boss no more and you can therefore understand why Jordan has suggested that the Brazilian should be offloaded instead of Mane.
This isn’t a case of us wanting to let our No. 10 go though, there’s a feeling that Mane believes he’s achieved everything at the club and therefore wants to seek a new challenge whilst he’s still at the top of his game.
We certainly hope that his desire to leave Merseyside isn’t motivated by finances, but we may never know.
He’s been a great servant for the club and no matter what happens in the coming weeks, he’ll go down in history.