Sadio Mane atop Bayern Munich’s wish list as Julian Nagelsmann ponders new system

The rumors are heating up connecting Bayern Munich with Liverpool star Sadio Mane and according to Sport1’s Kerry Hau and PJ Berger, the fleet attacker is top the list of options that the Rekordmeister is pursuing.

In fact, should Bayern Munich secure Mane — or one of the other targets listed by Hau and Berger — Julian Nagelsmann might consider altering his system

First, though, let’s take a look at who the fallback options are should a deal with Mane fall through (as captured by @iMiaSanMia):

• FC Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele: Bayern Munich likes Dembele, but he simply wants too much money.
• RB Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku: Die Roten Bullen is reluctant to sell the Frenchman to a leave rival — and work with Pini Zahavi on another deal.

On Friday, we saw that Mane could actually be an affordable acquisition and that might have Nagelsmann brainstorming a way to use the Liverpool man should Robert Lewandowski leave this summer. Per the report, Nagelsmann is exploring the idea of going full-Pep Guardiola and using a system without a real striker. Instead, Nagelsmann would play a group of versatile, fast players who would conceivably be able to create chaos in the final third.

And while Bayern Munich is serious about a pursuit of VfB Stuttgart’s Sasa Kalajdzic, his role would only be as a change-of-pace back-up, who can provide a different look.

As for Mane, he will be ready to talk about things later today...or maybe tomorrow.

“Come back to me (after the match) and I will give you the best answer you want to hear, for sure. It’s special. I will give you all you want to hear then. Saturday, come back and I will give you the answer I promise,” Mane told the Liverpool Echo (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “But for now let’s go and win the Champions League because I have no time for other things. I will do everything possible to win it because it is my and all the boys’ biggest dream, then I will give you the answers.”