KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Mane

Yep, I get the same feeling about Mane, I think we are buying a player who did well against us, he played really well against us in the second half when we were 2-0 up and helped turn it around when they won 3-2, my worry is one of the reasons we bought Benteke is he always played well against us.....

I've not seen many comments saying Mane is not good, its more a case of the fee, I think if we were getting him for £10-15 million people would be quite happy with the transfer. I hope we are strong in negotiations now they have Redmond and we say no more than say £25million or we walk and they are left with the original player who will be unhappy and they are paying for his replacement, we are in a stronger position now, so we should use it.

As I see it he offers something different to our current midfield players - pace, power, directness and abit of unpredictability, has scored 21 goals in 67 games in the PL (25 in 75 in all comps), so 1 in 3 is pretty good from midfield and something we have been missing from our midfield since Gerrard left. He has also done it in the PL, so is less of a risk compared to buying a player from another league. He is also an impact player, who you can bring on when needing a goal and he can mix it up abit and change a game, like he did against us.

How can you say Mane is not good enough? He's played well for Southampton and there's been no clear evidence to say he can or can't make the step up so it would be a calculated gamble as per every other transfer.

Klopp signed players from all over when he was at Dortmund and a lot of them didn't have proven track records when they joined. You need to have an open mind and if you don't have that then I would think that you won't be a big fan of Klopp's management.

He's a decent player and I agree with your points about his pace and him adding a different dimension to our attack.

However like you say £30million is a ridiculous sum of money for him, if he signs for that amount then he will be judged by that fee and rightly so. Benteke hasn't lived up to his fee, neither has Lallana or Lovren, neither has Markovic, neither did Carroll or Downing going back further. Anyone notice the common denominator, all with the exception of Markovic were bought from 'smaller' Premiership clubs. There is little to no value at all in the English market yet we keep going back to a tried and failed transfer strategy.

I agree there is not much value in the English market, the Troy Deeney transfer bids show that, but buying from smaller English clubs at least shows the player can play and has experience in the PL as they have done well at the 'smaller' club, that's why we are interested, we hope they improve under us with better players around them. We cannot buy quality from the bigger PL clubs like Arsenal/Man City/Chelsea/UTD as they will not sell their best players to rivals and their fee's would be huge that we could not afford if they did.

At the end of the day, its not us who balance the books at Liverpool, we can only judge a player on what he offers the team, Mane offers some good attributes to the team we do not have/improve on now, so he would be a good addition.

We can argue all day on the cost. He's 24, so he will still have a sell on value in 4-5 years, so he fits the FSG mould, if Klopp/FSG think he's worth it and we can afford it, I'm happy to leave it to them. To be fair, if Klopp has targeted Mane, good on FSG for backing his judgement with decent money.

Also, some of these 'smaller' Premier League teams like Southampton finished above us last season, so we are strengthening from our rivals with players who helped raise them above us in the PL.

I can't really argue with anything you've said. However I will say that even though Southampton finished above us there is a lot more expectation at Liverpool and that's where these type of players struggle. Finishing 6th at Southampton is a brilliant season and they can play without the expectation of needing to win every week. Finishing 6th at Liverpool would be classed as a poor season. It's a mentality thing for me, so many of our current squad don't have the right mentality to be at a club like Liverpool, hence why we lose semi finals and finals, when the pressure is really on.

I agree, it's that need to push on to the next level, too many of our signings seem to feel 'they have made it' when the join Liverpool. You look at someone like Suarez and he never looked happy, he always wanted to push on and improve, we need more like that, unfortunately gems like Suarez are few and far between.

That's where the manager comes in and works on the player/mentality, he motivates them and maintains/tells them the standards expected, Liverpool managers/coaches of the past like Paisley/Moran instilled this belief/expectation in the team, that's where I think Klopp excels and I am hoping he will instill that belief/expectation in the team, like he started to do last season.

Hahahaha, open mind? I suggest you take your own advice you Brendan Rodgers loving obsessive. I'm a massive fan of Klopp's management but I'm frustrated by our transfer policy.

Playing well for Southampton doesn't mean he can make the step up for Liverpool. And I've said he's a decent player, but in no way shape or form is he a £30million footballer!

In Klopp we must trust...