Liverpool star drops bombshell on future ahead of the Champions League final

Liverpool star drops bombshell on future ahead of the Champions League final

According to reports, Liverpool star winger Sadio Mane is increasingly set to leave the club this summer, with the attacker opting to join Bayern Munich following the Champions League final.

The 30-year-old is in the final year of his contract with the Merseysiders and has so far been hesitant to agree to new terms, preferring to be elusive about his future at Anfield.

While Mohamed Salah – whose contract also expires in 2023, has chosen to remain at the club next season, his teammate was rather more uncertain.

‘This question [on my future] I will answer after the Champions League,’ he said this week in the build-up to Saturday’s final against Real Madrid in Paris. ‘If I’m staying or not, I’m going to answer after the Champions League.’

Mane is expected to refuse a contract extension with Liverpool and instead pursue a move to Bayern, according to German daily Bild.mi

Liverpool’s Senegalese striker Sadio Mane celebrates after scoring a goal during the UEFA Super Cup 2019 football match between FC Liverpool and FC Chelsea at Besiktas Park Stadium in Istanbul on August 14, 2019. (Photo by Bulent Kilic / AFP) (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP via Getty Images)

In an ideal setting, the Senegalese forward would want to win the Champions League for the second time with Liverpool, and afterwards leave the club in style before joining Bayern Munich.

As things stand, Bild claims Mane is ‘leaning very strongly towards a transfer to the Bundesliga and, after six years at Anfield, is looking for a new challenge.

Liverpool are unlikely to extend Mane’s contract beyond 2023, so it will be up to Jurgen Klopp and the club’s executives to decide whether to keep a player who wants to leave – and will leave on a free transfer next summer – or cash in now.

Bayern are only willing to pay around €30 million (£27.5 million) for Mane, who has just one year left on his contract, a price they believe is fair given the player’s age and contract status, and which is comparable to what Liverpool paid for Thiago when he left the Allianz Arena in similar circumstances.

Mane had another excellent season in front of goal for Liverpool, scoring 16 Premier League goals and adding five more in the Champions League en route to the final.

In other news, Liverpool to complete signing of €80m stat as personal term already agreed