149 G/A Premier League winner reveals he visited Tottenham training ground before joining Liverpoolplaceholder image
149 G/A Premier League winner reveals he visited Tottenham training ground before joining Liverpool | Getty Images
Tottenham Hotspur made an attempt to sign one of the Premier League’s stand-out players back in 2016
Premier League winner Sadio Mane has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur made a strong attempt to sign him back in 2016 before his eventual move to rivals Liverpool.
The Senegal international moved to Anfield in 2016 and would go on to win the Premier League and Champions League with the Reds. The Champions League triumph came in 2019, when the Reds beat Spurs in the final in Madrid.
Mane won an early penalty for Jurgen Klopp’s side in that game as his cross hit the arm of Moussa Sissoko after just 26 seconds. Things might have looked very different for Spurs in that game and elsewhere if they had managed to sign Mane.
Speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel, Mane sat down with the former Manchester United and Leeds United man to reflect on his career so far. In the interview he opened up how both Manchester United and Spurs wanted to sign him before he joined Liverpool.
Tottenham boss at the time Mauricio Pochettino put a call in with Mane even visiting the Spurs’ training ground. He was more convinced about a move to North London over a switch to Old Trafford but his mind was made up when he got a call from Jurgen Klopp.
He said: "I had a meeting with Tottenham. At the same time, [Mauricio] Pochettino called him [my agent] and he said, 'I want to have Sadio to come to Tottenham training ground.'"
"And then I go to Tottenham training ground one week after. I see the facility, I meet the coach, I talk to him and I was more convinced than the Man United project.
"Because Man United – the problem was too many big players."
Mane enjoyed an impressive career in the Premier League with Southampton and Liverpool. He made 263 appearances, scoring 111 goals and providing 38 assists. He also holds the record for quickest hat-trick in the competition’s history.
He scored three goals in two minutes and 56 seconds as Southampton beat Aston Villa 6-1 in May 2015.
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