How Sadio Mané cost Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool a contract for Jeremy Doku has been made public.

As rivals Manchester City agree on a £55m deal to sign the 21-year-old Rennes winger.

Sadio Mané may have cost Liverpool a chance to sign Jeremy Doku at a price lower than that agreed between Rennes and rivals Manchester City.

Mail Sport revealed yesterday that Pep Guardiola’s side have accepted a £55million offer for the 21-year-old.

Doku is currently one of the most exciting youngsters in Europe and has attracted interest from several top clubs including Tottenham, City, West Ham and Liverpool.

A graduate of Anderlecht academy, he is currently plying his trade with Ligue 1 club Rennes, having joined the France squad in 2020 and scoring six goals in 29 league appearances last season.

But the deal could be a blow to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who would have been lucky enough to sign him for a hundredth of the price Man City would pay for him when the winger was 15.

Jeremy Doku (pictured) reportedly turned down the chance to join Liverpool after being dissuaded to join the club by Sadio Mane

But according to Doku, a conversation with Sadio Mane (pictured) may have convinced him not to join the Reds

The winger had received permission from his former club Anderlecht to travel from Belgium to Merseyside to meet Klopp and several of the team’s players.

One such was Sadio Mane, who recently left the club for Bayern Munich and then moved to new pastures, joining Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.

Had Doku decided to join Liverpool, he could have inherited Mane’s position on the wing, but the Senegalese international could have urged the Belgian international not to join.

According to The Mirror, Klopp was very eager to bring the winger to the club and was willing to pay Anderlecht £500,000 in compensation for him.

In an effort to persuade him to join the Reds, while many other Premier League clubs surrounded the young talent, the German introduced him to some of the club’s best players, trying to convince Doku that Liverpool were the right team for him. “I was approaching my 16th birthday, the age where you can sign a professional contract,” Doku told Ouest-France.

“Many teams came to me, Liverpool was the most concrete interest, but there were also Arsenal and Chelsea.

“I went [to Liverpool] with my mum and dad and we got a tour of the stadium, the training ground and even the school I was going to. They gave me a signed Salah shirt and I met the players.

“I was able to consult with Jurgen, also Gerrard, we watched some video moments and he talked about the development. “We met players, (Simon) Mignolet because he was Belgian, [Georginio] Wijnaldum from the Netherlands.”

At the time, he spoke to Mane, who, according to him, didn’t hesitate to convince him to join the Reds, suggesting instead that he should continue to develop at Anderlecht in the Belgian Pro League.

“I talked a lot with Mané, but we didn’t really talk about football. We talked about everything,” continued the Belgian.

“He told me I was young, that I still had time…he didn’t try to convince me or tell me ‘come here, you’ll make it’.”

“So I preferred to be careful,” he added.

“I knew what my trajectory had to be. I knew where to go and at that moment I knew I had to stay in Anderlecht.

Interestingly, things worked out pretty well for the young star, who at 21 had already won 14 caps for the Belgian senior side and made his Anderlecht debut aged 16.

Former Belgium manager Roberto Martinez has also praised the winger in the past, calling him ‘extraordinary talent’.

He then joined Rennes from Anderlecht in a deal worth around £22.5m and it appears he has no regrets at not joining the Premier League club in the future. 15 years old.

“As soon as they ask me if I have any regrets [not going to Liverpool],” Doku added, “I always say no because if Liverpool came to see me at 15 and they liked me, they would.” Come back later, that’s for sure. It’s up to me to play well.

It looks like he may have turned down a move to Liverpool but he could now be in line for a move to Manchester City as Guardiola’s side see him as a replacement for Riyad Mahrez.

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