Sadio Mane has revealed that, greater than two years on from leaving Liverpool, he stays in touch with one specific ex-teammate with whom he shared many nice moments on and off the pitch on Merseyside.
Now taking part in with Al-Nassr within the Saudi Professional League, the 32-year-old arrived at Anfield in the summertime of 2016, the identical switch window wherein Gini Wijnaldum signed for the Reds. The duo performed slightly below 200 video games collectively at LFC till the Dutch midfielder left in 2021.
Each gamers are actually primarily based in Saudi Arabia, with the ex-Newcastle dynamo a part of Steven Gerrard’s squad at Al-Ettifaq, and the Senegal ahead couldn’t communicate extremely sufficient of his one-time Liverpool colleague.
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Mane nonetheless good mates with Wijnaldum
Mane stated (through Liverpool Echo): “Gini is one in all my excellent mates. It’s greater than soccer, as a result of our relationship got here naturally. After I was in Liverpool, we got here on the similar time, and he’s this type of particular person that after he’s within the staff he turns into mates with everyone. All people likes him.
“He’s particular, and that is the rationale once I was there we’ve been good mates – and he was at all times in my home. Generally he would name me to come back to my home, and I’m like ‘No, not but. Get out of right here!’.
“He at all times desires to make enjoyable, and I like this about him. He has a superb coronary heart; I can talk about him till tomorrow continuous. He’s superb and we’re nonetheless holding contact, and that’s actually essential.”
Mane and Wijnaldum shared some particular instances at Liverpool
Mane and Wijnaldum had been each instrumental figures throughout an unforgettable interval at Anfield wherein Liverpool gained the Premier League, Champions League, UEFA Tremendous Cup and Membership World Cup underneath Jurgen Klopp’s steerage.
They had been each in L4 for almost all of the German’s tenure, having joined in his first summer season in cost and staying for lengthy sufficient to contribute towards some particular instances for Reds supporters.
Footballers may have dozens of teammates all through their profession, significantly those that rack up a lot of golf equipment, so it’s a mark of how a lot of an influence the ex-Liverpool duo made on one another that they continue to be such good mates regardless of now not taking part in collectively.
It additionally attests to the unbelievable bond which existed between Klopp’s squad throughout these wonderful years once we had been bringing main silverware again to Anfield after an extended fallow interval, and with out that sense of unity on and off the sector, the triumphs of 2019 and 2020 wouldn’t have occurred.
Perhaps in a couple of years’ time, Mane and Wijnaldum can be teammates as soon as extra in an LFC Legends match!