Why Sadio Mane's proposed Saudi Arabia transfer will cost Liverpool

  • Sadio Mane has agreed personal terms in principle with Al Nassr
  • Liverpool sold forward to Bayern Munich with various add-ons in fee
  • Poor season in Bavaria means add-ons weren't triggered
Sadio Mane is on course to join Al Nassr
Sadio Mane is on course to join Al Nassr / Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/GettyImages
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Sadio Mane's proposed transfer to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia is set to see former club Liverpool miss out on a chunk of extra income.

The deal agreed between Liverpool and Bayern Munich for Mane last summer started at around £27.5m in a guaranteed transfer fee. But the overall package was inflated by £7.5m worth of add-ons that were dependent on the player hitting certain targets in Bavaria.

Such performance-based add-ons can often include things like appearances or goals.

But Mane didn't have a particularly good debut season with Bayern, playing only 25 times in the Bundesliga, scoring just nine league goals and generally underperforming.


READ MORE ON THE PLAYERS LINKED TO SAUDI ARABIA & THE MONEY ON OFFER

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At one stage, Mane was internally suspended by Bayern and fined a club record amount for lashing out at teammate Leroy Sane, with coach Thomas Tuchel eventually concluding that the Senegal international had fallen 'short of expectations'.

Now that he is set to move on from Bayern to join Al Nassr, the Daily Mail has reported it will cost Liverpool. The various add-ons in the 2022 transfer agreement didn't end up being triggered and are set to be lost as soon as the player has a new club. Liverpool would have been hopefully of those add-ons being achievable, yet now won't see that additional money coming in.

Mane was initially resistant of a switch to the Saudi Pro League. As 90min reported at the time, Al Ettifaq were the team initially interested in signing the 31-year-old. However, not long after making clear his intention not to engage with talks, Mane agreed personal terms with Al Nassr in principle.


LISTEN NOW TO 90MIN'S TALKING TRANSFERS PODCAST

On this week's edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Toby Cudworth is joined by Graeme Bailey to discuss the next steps in Bayern Munich's Harry Kane hunt, Brighton rejecting another Chelsea bid for Moises Caicedo, who has had the most impressive transfer window so far & more!

If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!