Sadio Mané bids farewell to Bayern Munich as Al-Nassr move almost complete

It just didn’t quite work out for Sadio Mané at Bayern Munich. There was so much hope and anticipation when he signed from Liverpool last summer after what was very nearly a historic quadruple from Jurgen Klopp’s side, but they fell just short in both the Premier League to Manchester City, and the Champions League to Real Madrid.

As it has been heavily reported, the Senegalese international is set to join Saudi Arabian Pro League club Al-Nassr from Bayern for a fee of around €30m and he’s already travelled to Dubai to undergo the first parts of his medical. It’s not long now before he officially becomes a player for Al-Nassr in a summer that’s chalk full of players leaving Europe for the Middle East.

“Leaving FC Bayern hurts me. I would have wished for a different ending. I know that I could have helped the team this season. I wanted to prove it to everyone this season. Nevertheless, I only wish the club and the fans the best for the future,” Mané said in a statement, bidding farewell to Bayern ahead of his move being finalized, as per Sky Sports’ Florian Plettenberg.

Mané will be leaving the Rekordmeister with a DFL-Supercup and Bundesliga winners medal to boot, having tallied 12 goals and six assists from a total of 38 appearances across all competitions. Unfortunately, his season was derailed towards the end of Hinrunde with the knee injury he sustained that prevented him from being able to part take in the World Cup in Qatar with Senegal. Even when he worked his way back to fitness, he never seemed to hit his full stride and was out of favor with Tuchel after Julian Nagelsmann had been sacked in the middle of March.

The timing of his injury really worked against his favor, but it had become clear that Bayern would be ready to sell him this summer even before the season ended and transfer window opened. He had said that he was open to staying and fighting for his place, but for everyone involved, a move away was the best option and now he’ll start a new chapter in Saudi Arabia with a decent wage structure. On the other end of the spectrum, Bayern now has more funds they can allocate to the Harry Kane transfer from Tottenham.