Bayern Munich want to sign Sadio Mane this summer after holding talks with his agent following ‘difficult’ negotiations between the forward and Liverpool over a new deal, according to a source in Germany.
Mane’s agent, Bjorn Bezemer, has spoken to Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic about the Senegal striker becoming the German champions’ ‘statement signing’, Sky Sport Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg has claimed.
The prolific 30-year-old is out of contract in 2023 and is said to have held ‘difficult’ talks with the Premier League contenders over a new deal to extend his stay at Anfield.
Negotiations are reportedly yet to take place between the clubs over the Africa Cup of Nations winner, who has scored 118 goals in 265 Liverpool appearances.
Speaking after Bayern’s 2-2 Bundesliga draw at home to Stuttgart on Sunday, Salihamidzic claimed reporters would be ‘surprised’ by the major signing the 2020 Champions League winners are targeting.
Salihamidzic added: ‘We have to see what is possible and what is not. We have creative ideas.’
Mane is said to be seeking as much as a tripling of his reported current Liverpool wage of around £100,000 a week after winning the Champions League, Premier League and Carabao Cup among a haul of trophies since joining from Southampton in 2016.
Only teammate Mohamed Salah and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang matched his 22 Premier League goals as he shared the Golden Boot at the end of the 2018/19 season.
The former Red Bull Salzberg hitman hit 26 goals in all competitions that season as part of a lethal strikeforce alongside Salah and Firmino.
After helping Liverpool win the Champions League, Mane became the 2019 CAF African Player the following season, when the club won the top-flight title for the first time since 1990, as well as the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
Salah and Firmino are also out of contract in 2023, leaving Liverpool facing the threat of losing the trio for nothing if they do not sign new terms before the start of the 2022-23 season.
A successful move for Mane would represent a sensational swoop for Bayern and allow them to combine the hotshot with reigning Best FIFA Men’s Player Robert Lewandowski.
The Poland captain has scored a remarkable 47 goals in all competitions this season but is the only Bayern player to have netted more than 17 times across the campaign.
Bayern crashed out of the Champions League to Villarreal in the quarter-finals after failing to score in Spain on their way to a 2-1 aggregate defeat.
Mane scored in both legs as Liverpool outgunned Unai Emery’s side in the semi-finals, setting up a meeting with Real Madrid in the final on May 28.