Liverpool may have sacrificed Sadio Mane after £100m+ reveal – Agbonlahor
Liverpool “sacrificed” Sadio Mane to be able to afford Mohamed Salah’s new contract, according to Gabby Agbonlahor.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Aston Villa’s record Premier League scorer claimed the club were “stuck in a corner” by Salah.
A Liverpool source told Football Insider on Saturday (2 July) that Salah’s new three-year deal is worth £400,000-a-week and will cost the club £62.4m in wages alone.
The Mirror reported last month (17 June) that Mane has signed a £250,000-a-week three-year deal at Bayern Munich.
That will cost the German giants £39million in wages alone over the course of the deal.
If the Reds had agreed both contracts it would have cost them just over £101million.
“I think Salah’s wages is money well spent,” Agbonlahor told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“It’s exactly what I’ve said, Mane and Salah wanted the money that they felt they deserved, they see what [Kevin] De Bruyne earns, they see what David de Gea earns and they were going to get it one way or another.
“Liverpool chose to give it to Salah rather than Mane, they probably thought they can’t give both that sort of money.
“They sacrificed Mane and he went and got £350,000-a-week somewhere else at Bayern Munich.
“Salah got it at Liverpool. If they did not want to give him that then he would have left.
“This is what I’m saying about loyalty, there’s no loyalty in football. Salah wanted what he felt he deserved and if they didn’t pay he would have gone.
“Yes, he might love Liverpool but he doesn’t leave Liverpool enough to say ‘Oh, give me £250,000-a-week’. It was ‘Give me my money or I’m going’ and it was the same with Mane.
“It just showed that Liverpool got stuck in a corner and thought ‘Let’s just give him what he wants rather than let him leave on a free transfer next summer’.”
In other news, Southampton are readying a bid for a Liverpool star and £20million will seal the deal.