Sadio Mane and Serge Gnabry have been linked as Bayern Munich hold talks with the Liverpool midfielder's agent.
Both the Liverpool forward and his Bayern Munich counterpart have contracts expiring in the summer of 2023, and a meeting in Mallorca has gotten a lot of people talking.
It was unavoidable that it would occur at some point.
Because of the uproar surrounding Mohamed Salah's Liverpool future since an interview with Spanish media nearly 18 months ago, the sound of Sadio Mane's Reds deal has been muffled.
That billing was well-deserved until the pair left for the Africa Cup of Nations in January.
Salah arrived in Cameroon as the world's best forward. He appeared unstoppable, and it was to him that Liverpool looked for goals and inspiration.
Mane, on the other hand, was experiencing a significant drop in form from his 2019-20 Premier League-winning best, and it had become impossible to ignore.
Mane's goal at Chelsea in the final match before he and Salah left for AFCON was his first in ten appearances, and it was quickly followed by Salah's 23rd in 26 games in 2021-22, as if to demonstrate who was the main man.
But it was Mane who knock Salah in the final penalty shootout, and the pair's fortunes have since been somewhat reversed as the Senegalese has taken the lead. He has 11 targets since returning from Cameroon, while Salah has seven, three of which were penalties.
All of this pales into insignificance when it comes to keeping Liverpool on track in this most chaotic of seasons, with both Salah and Mane regularly contributing more than just goals to the ongoing party, but there has been an observable character shift.
In that light, reports on Monday that the forward's agents met with Bayern Munich should come as no surprise, even if there is more to the meeting than meets the eye.
Mane and his representatives are likely to have been watching Salah's protracted negotiations with Liverpool for months, with both star players aware that this contract should be the contract of their careers, commensurate with their standing in the game.
Although both are near the top of the world, Salah has long been considered ahead of his teammate, only for the last few months to see Mane beat him twice on the international stage, as well as score goals in the Champions League quarter and semi-finals, to suddenly overtake him in the Ballon d'Or conversation.
Whereas Mane's camp may have been willing to sit back and wait to see what Salah's offer was before looking for a deal at around 80% to 90% of that, there is now a real argument that the pair deserve parity from their clubs, and that is a live issue for Liverpool at a time when there is so much more going on.
To both players' credit, there has been little dissenting noise coming from their direction in the midst of the contract sagas, with Salah consistently insisting he wants to stay and Mane remaining silent.
Conversations have continued in the background, but the revelation that Bayern met with Mane's representatives, the ROOF agency, in Mallorca last week has sparked renewed interest.
The German behemoths are likely to remain interested in Mane's situation, because who wouldn't be? However, based on their extensive client list, these Mallorca talks would have covered a wide range of topics.
Indeed, it is believed that one of the topics of discussion was the future of Bayern Munich's own winger Serge Gnabry, rather than a move for Mane. Per the Goal.com, Bayern Munich was also engaged in RB Leipzig's Konrad Laimer, another ROOF client.
Gnabry, a former Arsenal youth player, is also out of contract in the summer of 2023, and his situation is linked to that of his fellow ROOF client.
Liverpool would be aware of Gnabry's qualities and potential availability at the age of 26 and with a historical record of impressive performances. They'll understand the complexities of his contract expiration because they've been through it with Salah and Mane, not to mention Roberto Firmino.
ROOF, who also represent Kai Havertz, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and Liverpool's Naby Keita, who is out of contract in less than a year, are key players in this scenario, and perhaps they see it as beneficial to their clients if interest from other clubs can be produced, and even encourage the idea of a swap deal.
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