Liverpool 'missing' player like 'exceptional' £35m star at Anfield

Liverpool are missing their former forward Sadio Mane, believes Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth.

The Merseyside club sold the 30-year-old to Bayern Munich in the summer and have struggled without him this season.

Mane had entered the final year of his contract at Liverpool and wanted a new challenge, so the Reds had little choice but to sell him in the end.

“This is the right time for this challenge,” the Senegalese star said after his £35m move (via BBC Sport) to the Allianz Arena.

“I felt the great interest of this big club from the start so there was no doubt in my mind.”

Following their 3-2 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday, Jurgen Klopp’s men find themselves in 10th place and 14 points behind first. Ultimately, it has not been a good start to the season for them in the Premier League.

Sheth feels Liverpool have just not been the same without Mane, whom Klopp previously described as an “exceptional talent”.

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, the Sky Sports reporter said: “Liverpool always prided themselves on their pressing game and that always started at the front. And Sadio Mane would always be that fulcrum figure in the front. He would deliver what Jurgen Klopp would want.

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“I’m not saying that Liverpool’s current forward line isn’t doing that, but I think you could actually say that they have been missing someone like Sadio Mane, not just because of what he brings in an attacking sense with the goals he scores, but also how he starts the press.

“It’s infectious, isn’t it? Once he starts it, the players behind him continue it and then the defence is protected. The protection that the defence is getting just now maybe