Image: Getty
On Tuesday, Sadio Mané was voted Africa’s Footballer of the Year in Hurghada, Egypt. It is the culmination of an impressive career that began with broken shoes on the streets of Senegal.
Sadio Mané is 15 years old when he and his uncle take the almost 400-kilometer trip to Dakar. He wants to take part in a test training session at the Generation Foot football academy. Mané originally comes from Sédhiou, a provincial town in southern Senegal that is about the same size as Wetzikon.
His family doesn’t have much to do with football, but he can convince them to take part in the test training. “They are very religious and wanted other things for me at the time,” the attacker said in a detailed interview with “goal»In 2016.« Since I can remember, I always had a ball on my foot. I played everywhere, on the street, or wherever a match took place. When my family realized that everything in my head and heart was all about football, they let me go. »
«I’ll take you immediately!»
At the beginning he is only smiled at in Dakar. “I will never forget that. When I wanted to take part in the test training, an older man looked at me and asked me: ‘Are you here for the test?’ I said: ‘Yes.’ He asked me: ‘With these shoes? Have a look at them, how can you play with them at all? And these pants. Don’t you have real football pants? ›» His equipment was really bad, his shoes old and broken. “I told him that I had brought my best things with me and I just wanted to play,” added Mané. «When I got to the square, he was very surprised. Then he came to me and said: ‘I’ll take you immediately! You play on my team. ›That’s how I got into the academy.»
In Dakar, Mané lives with a strange family and only uses football as a card. A big risk for a young person from such a region. But he always knows how to convince on the pitch and it doesn’t take long before the call comes from Europe. Mané joined FC Metz in France in July 2011 at the age of 19. «I was so young and I had to leave everything I knew behind. It was very difficult and I missed my family very much, »admits the 27-year-old today.
Knock knocks twice
His talent does not go unnoticed in Metz – just one year after his arrival, Red Bull Salzburg is transferring four million euros for the services of the lightning-fast attacker. The Senegalese stays in Austria for two years, then Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp wants to meet him. «I was totally thrilled. I couldn’t believe he believed that I could help his team. They were so good – I watched all their games, »enthuses Mané. But the transfer shouldn’t work. Salzburg will instead agree with Southampton FC and the African will eventually be drawn to England after France and Austria.
Again the whirlwind knows how to convince and in 2016 Klopp picks up the receiver again – this time as Liverpool FC coach. The “Reds” pay 41 million euros to the “Saints” and Mané has reached the top of world football. «I am very happy that I am now working with one of the best coaches in the world. It should be like this, »says the newcomer after the change. In his debut against Arsenal, Mané scored his first goal for Liverpool after a splendid solo effort and immediately pointed with his arms outstretched to the man on the sidelines. He storms to Klopp and jumps on the back of the German coach.
The collaboration is fruitful – three years later, Sadio Mané is the Champions League winner, club world champion and, since Tuesday, Africa’s Player of the Year. But the 27-year-old knows how lucky he was on his way and remains on the ground: «So many talented players that I grew up with have never been given the opportunity I have. I live my dream.”
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