Saido Mane is on the brink of becoming Liverpool’s stand-out summer signing after he was given permission to travel to Merseyside for a medical.
Liverpool agreed a £30million fee with Southampton over the weekend for the Senegal forward and he will now undergo a physical assessment before his representatives negotiate personal terms with chief executive Ian Ayre.
Jurgen Klopp has been determined to add Mane, 24, to his squad and Liverpool have been in discussions with Southampton for much of the past four weeks in order to strike a deal. Klopp believes Mane has the pace, energy and aggression to give Liverpool’s attack a different dimension, and in the coming days he will be confirmed as the third biggest signing in the club’s history behind Andy Carroll and Christian Benteke.
Klopp wanted to have Mane on board for the start of pre-season — Liverpool’s non-Euro 2016 players return on July 2 — and he could make his debut in the first pre-season game at Tranmere on July 8.
Once the deal is completed, Southampton will have received £91.5m in transfer fees from Liverpool over the last three summers with Mane following Adam Lallana (£25m), Dejan Lovren (£20m), Nathaniel Clyne (£12.5m) and Rickie Lambert (£4m).
Further additions are expected, with Liverpool having submitted bids for Udinese midfielder Piotr Zielinski and Leicester left back Ben Chilwell, while they are tracking Borussia Monchengladbach’s Mahmoud Dahoud.
Southampton have opened talks with former Nice boss Claude Puel over replacing Ronald Koeman as their new manager. – Daily Mail