Liverpool hero was 'horrendous' when he first arrived in England, ex-Southampton star shares little-known insight
It would have been worth the investment for Liverpool to build a direct rail line from Southampton to Anfield in the mid-2010s.
From 2014 to 2019, Liverpool The Saints landed Rickie Lambert, Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne, Sadio Mane and Danny Ings, although Southampton pocketed an estimated £187m in transfer fees.
Southampton earned praise for far exceeding expectations, finishing eighth, seventh, sixth and eighth from the 2013–14 season to the 2016–17 season.
Those seven players achieved varying levels of success at Liverpool, and van Dijk is the only player remaining at Anfield.
But there was a former player Southampton Forward Shane Long never expected he would ever achieve greater things.
“When Sadio first arrived, for the first six months, it was horrible.” Long told Fozcast.
“Obviously he wasn't horrible, I take that back. He had those moments where you thought, 'Oh, he's got something.' You used to kick him and get hurt. He's got that strength. But he's small, he's fast.
“But he could take on everyone and kick towards the Z row trying to center the ball. He could take it out of the field, that kind of thing.
“But then (Ronald) Koeman managed to coach him and train him and all that, and he just had this run and you thought: 'Oh my God, this kid can go to the top.'”
Mane moved to St. Mary's in the 2014 summer window for £12m from Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg.
It took the Senegalese star a while to find his feet but he found his form over the festive period in his first season and scored three goals in three games, including strikes against Chelsea and Arsenal.
The 32-year-old also ended his debut season in style when he scored the fastest hat-trick in Premier League history against Aston Villa.
Mané needed just two minutes and 56 seconds to score three goals and defeat Villa 6-1.
The striker again made a poor start to the 2015-16 campaign but scored an 87th-minute equaliser against his future employers in October and was then sent off after picking up two yellow cards in stoppage time.
In a similar story to his debut season, Mané finished it in style with eight goals in as many games.
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During that run, Mané scored twice against Liverpool and netted a hat-trick against Manchester City, thus ending his Southampton career in style.
He moved to Liverpool in June 2016 for £34 million, a fee that made him the most expensive African footballer at the time.
Mané played 269 games and scored 120 goals for Liverpool in all competitions over a six-year period.
He was a vital part of Liverpool's attack alongside Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah that helped Liverpool win the Premier League in 2019-20 and the Champions League the previous season.
Such was Mané's brilliance at Liverpool that he was named in the Premier League Team of the Season on four occasions.
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Mane left Liverpool in June 2022 for Bayern Munich but lasted one season after an injury-hit campaign.
He was also involved in a dressing room brawl with Leroy Sané and reportedly punched the German in the face after Bayern lost 3-0 to Manchester City in a Champions League quarter-final.
He now plays for Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr and plays alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.
