Bayern Munich star Sadio Mane has not had a straight forward time in Germany since moving from Liverpool last summer and Arsenal may be a viable destination for the Senegal international
Sadio Mane faces an uncertain future at Bayern Munich and the ex-Liverpool forward has been tipped to leave the German champions in the summer.
According to a report in Senegal published in 2019, via Daily Cannon, Arsenal were given the chance to sign Mane in 2012 but decided not to because he wasn’t “impressive enough”. This was just before he signed for Red Bull Salzburg at the age of 20, where he went on to score 45 goals in 87 games.
“After the Olympic Games, I offered him to Gilles Grimandi,” Mady Toure, president of the Generation Foot Academy, told APS. “A few years later, I recalled this episode to Arsene Wenger, who was managing Arsenal at the time.” A versatile defender, Grimandi joined Arsenal in 1997 from AS Monaco and later became a France-based scout for the club.
While Wenger's thoughts on the failed transfer are unclear, the former Arsenal manager is a fan of Mane and previously described Liverpool's decision to let him go as a "mistake". Speaking to BeIN Sport via Foot Mercato, the Frenchman said: “They lost Mane, who was a top player in big games.
"He had something, an aggressive attitude and determination. He would score no matter what, he would make things happen. It’s hard to measure what it takes away from them. They are missing something they had before.
Wolves reportedly believe that Neves should be playing Champions League football - and would prefer to sell him to a foreign club, raising the hopes for Spain's leading duo to take the Portuguese star to LaLiga.
But with the service that he has offered to Wolves over the last six years, they would not stand in the way of him joining one of the Premier League's big guns as well. Both Arsenal and Man United are on course to be playing Champions League football next season.
He was part of the Wolves team that were promoted as Championship winners into the Premier League in 2018, and the team have remained in the top-flight since.
Neves has been tipped to move on from Wolves for a couple of years, but with the plans for next season likely to be working around his absence, it is a step forward for those teams looking to recruit the Portuguese midfielder.
Wolves are keen to keep last summer's midfield signing Matheus Nunes in their future plans, despite interest from Liverpool and Chelsea.