Sadio Mane has listed the characteristics he most admires about Jurgen Klopp following his most successful season yet at Anfield.
Mane finished the Premier League's joint top goalscorer after netting 22 goals, sharing the award with teammate Mohamed Salah and Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Mane also played his part in the Reds' Champions League-winning campaign, scoring four goals in the competition.
And the 27-year-old said Klopp is to thank for his brilliant form at the club.
Mane said: "He's a very special manager. He has a lot of qualities and distinctive characteristics, but what really struck me is that he's a really, really nice guy outside of football. His human side touched me, and that's really rare to find someone like that, especially in football.
“He's a coach who loves his players, he's there for them. At the same time, he gives them responsibilities. We, the players, are ready to do anything for him! We give everything on the pitch for him, whether it's in training or in a game, we give our all. He's a manager who makes you want to go to war.”
Mane also revealed Klopp first wanted to sign him while he was at Salzburg and Klopp was managing Dortmund, and that although he ended up in the Premier League playing for Southampton , he was disappointed to not be able to link up with the German earlier.
“That transfer (from Salzburg to Southampton) was tough and complicated. I'll tell you the truth. Southampton is a very good club, but I didn't want to go there," he said.
“My aim was to sign at Dortmund because Jürgen Klopp wanted me. Except Salzburg was already in agreement with Spartak Moscow. They wanted to sell me in Russia to get the most money. Dortmund were ready to pay €12m. I said no to Russia. My dream was to play in the best leagues."
Like Klopp, the Champions League was Mane's first trophy at Anfield, and he will desperately hoping to add to that next season as Liverpool look to go head-to-head with Manchester City for the league title again.
zeydnpry
65
Even some of us just seeing him over the television,we just see how he loves people. So i totally agree with you Mane when you say like that.He loves people and such people are few in this world in which we live as living organisms.Jurgen Klopp,is a man of people.Imagine how people using their media,some people speaking straight away about offensive things about him, but he don't answer them back, he shuts up.What a man...Many people wrote many bad things about him, just to tarnish Jurgen Klopp's image not forgetting the football assessors/pundits how bad they have spoken about him but he never paid evil to evil against them.Jurgen Klopp,is such a manager who loves people of all kinds in football world. The treatment he gets to that of Pep Guardiola is far different but they are at the same footballing level... Pep Guardiola is treated much much lovelier than Jurgen Klopp...to me that is discrimination at its best. In all these nasty things Jurgen Klopp still walks tall as man of people.Klopp has a good heart,who will refute that only the devil himself...The media and the pundits does not write or comment anything bad about Pep Guardiola but to Jurgen Klopp the do...so quick to inform footballing spectators ..Horrible really.All Football also should stop its discriminative reporting to some managers, it is bad. Jurgen Klopp is hated so much despite of his good work, maybe because of Liverpool FC, because some idiotic spectators wanted it to die... Klopp, get moving, we love it so much how you treat our fellow African players, you treat them equally, so nice..❤️💪💪💪