Dean Saunders has equated Sadio Mane’s departure from Liverpool last year to leaving The Beatles and hinted that the attacker may have regrets over his exit from Merseyside.
The Welshman used the city’s most famous band to describe the Reds’ iconic forward line of the Senegal star, Mo Salah and Bobby Firmino, who played together under Jurgen Klopp between 2017 and 2022.
The trio were mainstays of the club’s most successful period of the modern era before their former number 10 left for Bayern Munich a year ago, having scored 120 goals in 269 games at Anfield (Transfermarkt).
Mane’s first season in Germany didn’t go as he’d have liked, being criticised over his form and getting embroiled in an altercation with teammate Leroy Sane (BBC Sport).
Reflecting on the 31-year-old’s exit from Liverpool, Saunders cited the Senegalese attacker as an example of how the grass mightn’t be greener on the other side when it comes to footballers changing clubs.
Speaking on talkSPORT, the ex-Wales international said: “That’s an example of what happens when you move clubs. You could say he was like in The Beatles with Salah and Firmino. That front three were like The Beatles, and you leave The Beatles and things are just not the same.
“You go and play with different players, and it’s not worked for Mane. Who’d have thought that Mane wouldn’t rip it up in Germany?”
A return of 12 goals in 38 games for Bayern last season was no disgrace for the former Liverpool attacker (Transfermarkt), but it certainly looks as if the Reds have gotten the best years of his career, while moving on themselves by signing Cody Gakpo last winter.
You can view Saunders’ comments on Mane below, via @talkSPORT on Twitter:
🤩 "Salah, Firmino & Mane were the Beatles!"
👀 "Then you leave the Beatles, and things aren't the same! It's not worked for Mane!"
Dean Saunders questions if Bayern Munich's Sadio Mane made a mistake leaving #LFC. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/mD4AdhuFfX
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) July 10, 2023