Sadio Mané spent yesterday evening inculcating himself among his new Liverpool supporters, by telling James Pearce of the Liverpool Echo that he turned down a move to Jose Mourinho's Manchester United in favour of working with Jurgen Klopp at Anfield. Here is the relevant passage from the Echo's story:
Asked about Jose Mourinho's interest, Mane said: “Yes, it was true.
“There was interest from a lot of clubs, not just Manchester United, but as soon as I knew Liverpool were interested I just felt it was the right club with the right coach. It was right for me to come here.
There definitely seemed to be interest in Mané from United's end while Louis Van Gaal was in charge, but those rumours seemed to dissipate when Mourinho took charge and started flinging money at players represented by Mino Raiola.
Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News has explained that Mourinho had no interest in signing Mané, and went on to proffer a thesis as to why these stories emerged:
Van Gaal was interested in Mane but Mourinho wasn't. Liverpool need some good press after false #mufc links saw them over-spend last year.
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) July 27, 2016
Villa made up #mufc interest to smoke out Liverpool. Hoffenheim claimed United were keen on Firmino to drive up price. Memphis rejected LFC.
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) July 27, 2016
It's an interesting theory, and also a window into the level of spin that goes into maximising a player's transfer fee.
