Chelsea to irritate Liverpool, with former Klopp weapon ready for Prem return amid Blues interest

Ciaran McCarthy
Sadio Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum, Liverpool, December 2018

Chelsea are reportedly planning to submit a proposal to sign Sadio Mane, and the former Liverpool star ‘wants a return’ to the Premier League following a ‘mixed’ Bayern Munich season.

Mane played 269 games during his time at Liverpool, scoring 120 goals and providing 48 assists. He won the Premier League golden boot in 2018/19, when he netted 22 times.

His success at Anfield was not only personal. The Senegalese forward won the Champions League, the Premier League and the FA Cup during his time with the Reds.

Mid-way through last season, he decided that campaign would be his last, with a move to Bayern piquing his interest. He’s had an impact for the Bundesliga giants, though not quite as much as he had at Liverpool.

Mane has played 23 league games, starting 18 of those, whilst also missing a few games through injury. In the league, he’s scored seven times and provided four assists.

Football Insider suggests he ‘wants to move back’ to the Premier League, as a result of a ‘mixed’ season.

Chelsea are ready and waiting to snap him up, too. Indeed, the report states the Blues are ‘planning to submit a proposal’ to Bayern for him.

The Blues’ new manager will reportedly be unveiled within the space of a week, and it seems more than likely that’s going to be Mauricio Pochettino.

The former Spurs manager is apparently ‘keen’ on bringing Mane with him. Chelsea’s priority for the summer window is reportedly a centre-forward signing, and while they’ve been linked with forwards, Mane is seen as ‘more realistic’.

That he can operate through the middle as well as out wide is reportedly one of the key reasons for that.

Bayern are said to be ‘willing to sell’ the forward in the summer, despite his current role. As such, Chelsea could well be in with a good chance of landing him, though will likely have to see one or two players depart before making a hefty outlay.

Liverpool will surely not be too enamoured with the prospect of Mane rejoining a Premier League side. His departure coincided with a woeful run, and they’ve only recently climbed back into a respectable position.

Meanwhile, Chelsea are in a poor spot, in 11th. As such, the signing of the former Reds man could be enough to change the Blues’ fortunes, as was his loss to the Reds’, though in a negative way.

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