The day when Sadio Mane ruined Doku's transfer to Liverpool

When Riyad Mahrez decided to switch Manchester City with Al-Ahli Saudi FC, a few people were surprised, and among those few was coach Pep Guardiola, who recently said that he didn’t expect to lose the Algerian international this year. However, a combination of less minutes on the field (Guardiola’s guilt) and a good offer from Saudi Arabia (around 35 million euros) was decisive in Mahrez’s decision to leave and that meant that the Citizens needed to find a replacement. And they did, as everything is agreed with Rennes for Jeremy Doku, a perspective Belgian winger. But if there is one person who won’t be happy with this deal, that is Jurgen Klopp. The German international will see the agreed sum of around 60 million euros and will recall the opportunity to sign the player for only 580.000 euros, which was ruined by Sadio Mane himself!

This interesting story was revealed by British Mirror, who wrote that in 2017, when Doku was only 15-years old, he came to Liverpool on trial, with the permission of his club at the time, Anderlecht. Other teams were also interested in the youngster, but the Reds were interested and came to meet the coach and the players.

“My 16th birthday was coming up, the age you can sign a pro contract. A lot of teams came to see me - Liverpool was the most concrete interest but there was also Arsenal and Chelsea. I went with my mum and dad to Liverpool, and we were given a tour of the stadium, the training ground, even the school I would go to. They gave me a signed Salah shirt, and I met the players. I was able to discuss with Jurgen, Gerrard too, we looked at some video moments, and he spoke about the development. We met players, Simon Mignolet because he was Belgian, Georginio Wijnaldum from Netherlands” Doku said to Ouest-France.

Look, kids, we've got you a Caicedo from Japan!

And then he also met Sadio Mane, with whom he ended up talking the most, but instead of using his influence to persuade him to join Liverpool, the Senegalese talked him about how he should continue his development and not rush things.

“I talked a lot with Mane but we didn't really talk about football. We talked about everything. He told me that I was young, that I still had time… he wasn't trying to convince me or to say to me 'come here, you will succeed'. So I preferred to be careful. I knew what my trajectory had to be. I knew what route I needed to take and I knew at that moment I needed to stay at Anderlecht” recalled Doku.

When your own words bite you in the bum

In the end, it worked great for everybody, apart from Klopp. Doku went back and stayed with Anderlecht, signed his first professional contract and the Belgian giant got a transfer fee when he signed for Rennes in 2020. The player will not go directly to the Premier League and Champions League winner and Guardiola will get another great young player. Sadio Mane will be pleased that a young kid took his advice and developed a promising career. And Jurgen Klopp was left without a possible top player, who costed only 580.000 euros and could have replaced…Sadio Mane?