Liverpool have something of a mountain to climb in the second-half of the season owing to their poor start to domestic football following the World Cup break.
Paul Merson reckons the sale of Sadio Mane right at the start of the campaign is still contributing to the Reds’ current form, arguing his old club would ‘buy him back in an instant’.
“I’ve been saying it from the start – selling Sadio Mane was a bad decision. If he came up for sale again, they’d buy him back in an instant,” the former Arsenal star told Sportskeeda.
“He was a massive part of that team and he didn’t get the credit he deserved.
“Liverpool sold one of their best players for hardly any money and it’s coming back to bite them.”
The Senegalese international has registered 11 goals across all competitions this term, a tally that his old outfit could have certainly done with at times this term when the likes of Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz have been injured.
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The forward line has looked somewhat blunt for much of the campaign, with systemic issues leaving talisman Mo Salah increasingly isolated whilst new boys Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo continue to find their feet in the famous red shirt.
Amid a period of such significant change, a drop from the lofty heights we’ve recently experienced (especially when compared to the nearly season of 2021/22) was to be expected. Though perhaps not to such an extent as we’ve seen this term.
Given we’re already weighing up the benefits of holding on to a 31-year-old Bobby Firmino beyond the expiration of his contract this summer, it doesn’t seem a step forward to be considering the return of Mane (30).
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For Gods sake, when will this idiot realise that Mane wanted to leave, he’d given 5 brilliant years and wanted a new challenge. They’re not prisoners Paul.