Sinclair: Klopp belittling AFCON convinced Mane to quit Liverpool | OneFootball

Sadio Mane left for Bayern Munich due to feeling unappreciated at Liverpool.

That's according to former England and Manchester City attacker Trevor Sinclair.

He told talkSPORT: "This Sadio Mane transfer is obviously universally accepted now he's left Liverpool Football Club as a club legend.

"But I keep on hearing some fans and ex-players saying 'I don't know why he's left?' Let me tell you why he's left.

"One, I don't think he's ever been lauded and appreciated at the football club like Virgil van Dijk or Mo Salah.

"Two, the fact that Liverpool let his contract go down to the last year kind of suggests that that's how they felt about him.

"Three, I think the main thing is that Jurgen Klopp lost him when he came out and belittled the AFCON tournament which his manager (for Senegal) Aliou Cisse had to come out and defend the AFCON and said 'you were coming second until our African players started playing for you'.

"Mane is a man of principles, you've seen him buy hospitals, buy schools and all the rest of it in his home town of Senegal and it's for these reasons I feel Sadio Mane's thought, you know what, I'm going, I'm leaving the club.

"He's had a good time, he's been a club legend but I don't think he could play on after that."