Bayern Munich are expected to submit a third offer for Sadio Mane in the coming days, with reports claiming the Liverpool No. 10 is close to agreeing a contract.
Mane has already seen two bids for his services rejected this summer, with sources at Liverpool describing Bayern’s second approach for the 30-year-old as “laughable.”
The Bundesliga club first offered £21 million with a further £4 million to be added, while their follow-up bid was worth £23.5 million with £6.5 million in ridiculous add-ons.
That included winning the Champions League and Ballon d’Or in every year of a proposed three-year contract for Mane, which is clearly unattainable.
Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic was advised not to travel to Merseyside for talks with Julian Ward unless a more suitable package was presented, with Liverpool seeking closer to £40 million.
According to reports in Germany, the Munich club are now prepared to make a third bid, which would land in the region of £35 million.
BILD claim that an initial €35 million (£30.15m) would be put on the table, with an additional €5 million (£4.31m) in bonuses.
Sky Sport in Germany corroborate news of a third bid, with their information suggesting it will be “between €30 million and €40 million,” with Liverpool “ready to hand over” their long-serving forward.
Bayern are said to want to wrap the deal up “quickly,” though Sky Sport journalist Florian Plettenberg reports that it will be more than a matter of days, as “there are still a few steps to go.”
Plettenberg adds that Mane “still wants to join Bayern” and “only Bayern,” with the Bundesliga champions believed to have offered the Senegalese a three-year contract.
The Mirror‘s David Maddock has included in a wide-ranging report on the futures of Mane and Darwin Nunez that the former is close to agreeing terms with Bayern, with a £360,000-a-week wage mooted.
That would be considerably higher than his earnings at Liverpool, and closer to double that of the Reds’ current highest earner, Virgil van Dijk.
If that is the level of pay Mane has been seeking it was never likely that he would have signed a new contract at Anfield, which is a similar situation to that which Mohamed Salah finds himself in.
There is a sense that Liverpool would be more open to a bank-breaking deal for Salah, however – though the possibility of an extension is growing more and more unlikely.
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