Sadio Mané

Sadio Mané (born 10 April 1992) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Liverpool and the Senegal national team.

Having begun his career with Metz in France, he transferred to Red Bull Salzburg in 2012. After winning the Austrian Bundesliga and Austrian Cup in 2014, he was signed by Southampton. In 2015, Mané set a new Premier League record for the fastest hat-trick when he scored three times in 176 seconds during a 6–1 win over Aston Villa.[4] He transferred to Liverpool in 2016 for a fee of £34 million, making him the most expensive African player in history at that time.[5][6]

Mané has earned over 40 caps for Senegal since his debut in 2012, and represented the national team at the 2012 Olympics, 2015 Africa Cup of Nations and 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

Early career
Born in Sédhiou, Sénégal, Mané started his career at the Académie Génération Foot, Senegalese football academy.[7]

Metz
Mané made his professional debut for Metz on 14 January 2012, coming on as a substitute for Kévin Diaz in the 75th minute of a 0–1 home defeat against Bastia in Ligue 2.[8] He made 19 appearances in his first league season, 12 as a starter, and scored a solitary goal in a 2–5 loss to Guingamp at the Stade Saint-Symphorien on 4 May.[9] Metz were relegated to the Championnat National at the end of the season.

Red Bull Salzburg
On 31 August 2012, Mané moved to Austrian Bundesliga side Red Bull Salzburg for the third biggest transfer fee that FC Metz had ever received.[10][11] The fee was believed to be €4 million.[12]

He scored his first hat-trick for the club on 31 October, in a 3–1 away win at Kalsdorf in the third round of the Austrian Cup.[13]

On 27 October 2013, he netted his first hat-trick in the Austrian Bundesliga, during a 3–0 win away to Grödig.[14] He scored another treble on 7 May 2014 as Salzburg won 7–0 at Horn in the cup semi-finals;[15] the season ended with the team winning a domestic double. End of August 2014 Mané forced a transfer out of the club, by not coming to the training and to the most important game for Salzburg at that time to qualify for the Champions League.[16]

Southampton
On 1 September 2014, Mané transferred to Premier League side Southampton for £11.8 million, signing a four-year contract.[17][18]

2014–15 season
Mané made his debut on 23 September in a 2–1 League Cup victory over Arsenal, winning the penalty for Southampton's first goal.[19] He made his first league appearance for the club in another 2–1 victory over Queens Park Rangers four days later, starting and assisting Ryan Bertrand for the first goal of the game.[20]

He scored his first goal for the club in a 8–0 victory over Sunderland on 18 October 2014,[21] although this was subsequently credited as an own goal by Patrick van Aanholt.[22]He did, however, score his first goal in his very next game, a 1–0 win over Stoke City a week later.[23] In December and January he scored in three successive matches, against Crystal Palace,[24] Chelsea[25] and Arsenal.[26]

Mané scored two late second half winning goals in 1–0 league victories at Queens Park Rangers on 7 February 2015 and at home to Crystal Palace on 3 March 2015 respectively.[27][28] However, Mané had been dropped from Southampton's starting line-up for their 0–2 home defeat to Liverpool on 22 February 2015 as a punishment for being late to the stadium.[29] He scored again, this time at Sunderland in league defeat on 2 May 2015.[30]

On 16 May 2015, during Southampton's final home match of the season, Mané scored three times in 2 minutes 56 seconds in a 6–1 win over Aston Villa to set a new Premier League record for the fastest hat-trick. The record had been held since 1994 by Robbie Fowler, who scored three against Arsenal in 4 minutes and 33 seconds.[4] Mané finished the season with 10 goals from 32 appearances in all competitions.

2015–16 season
Mané began the 2015–16 season by registering two assists in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round first leg match with Vitesse Arnhem at home and scoring in the return leg, as Southampton eased through to the next round 5–0 on aggregate.[31][32] On 2 December, he took 39 seconds to open the scoring against Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, but the Saints eventually lost 6–1 at home.[33]

On 2 January 2016, he was again dropped from the starting line-up by manager Ronald Koeman for a match at Norwich City when he turned up late for a pre-match meeting.[34] He received a straight red card on 12 March at the end of a 2–1 win at Stoke City for a collision into Erik Pieters,[35] although this was quickly overturned on appeal.[36][37]

Having failed to score in the league for over four months, Mané scored twice in a 3–2 victory over Liverpool on 20 March 2016,[38] followed by five goals in the next five matches, including a hat-trick in a 4–2 victory against Manchester City on 1 May.[39] He finished the season as Southampton's top scorer, with 15 goals in all competitions.

Liverpool
On 28 June 2016, Mané joined Liverpool for a transfer fee of £34 million on a five-year contract. The transfer fee made him "the most expensive African player in history".[5][40]

International career
Mané was part of the Senegal team at the 2012 Olympic tournament, and started every match as they advanced through Group A as runners-up to Great Britain before losing 4–2 after extra time in the quarter-finals to eventual champions Mexico.

Mané was ruled out of the Senegalese squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations after suffering a calf injury in Southampton's 2–0 win against Arsenal on 1 January 2015.[48] He later returned to the squad, and started in their final two group matches against South Africa and Algeria in a group stage exit.[49][50]

Mané represented Senegal at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and scored a goal in each of the nation's opening two games, 2–0 wins against Tunisia and Zimbabwe.[51]After a goalless draw in the quarter-final clash against Cameroon, he missed in the penalty shootout as Senegal were eliminated.[52]

Club

 * Red Bull Salzburg[53]
 * Austrian Bundesliga: 2013–14
 * Austrian Cup: 2013–14

Individual

 * CAF Team of the Year: 2015, 2016[58]
 * PFA Premier League Team of the Year: 2016–17[59]
 * Liverpool FC Players' Player of the Year: 2016–17[60]
 * Liverpool FC Fans Player of the Year: 2016–17[61]