Senegalese player Sadio Mané has joined Saudi Arabia club side Al Nassr following a season at FC Bayern. The 31-year-old forward signed a four-year contract, Nassr posted on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
According to Sky News, the former Liverpool forward stands to earn around $170 million in total if he sees out the deal. However, Reuters reports that Saudi paid $43.85 million for the 31-year-old who had two years left on his contract with Bayern.
TalkSports reports that he will earn around $823,000 weekly and $43 million yearly tax-free at Al Nassr. The money involved in his contract makes him the highest-paid Sub-Saharan African player and one of the world’s highest-paid players.
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Algerian player Riyad Mahrez, who recently moved to Al-Hali in the Saudi Pro-League, is the highest-paid African footballer. He takes home around £865,000 ($1000, 000) a week. Mane thus becomes the highest-paid black African footballer in the world.
Mane joined Bayern after a glittering outing at Liverpool, where he netted 120 goals in 269 games. He also won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, and Club World Cup during his six-year period at Liverpool.
Following the expiration of his contract at the Merseyside Club, he moved to Bayern but failed to impress the German champions, scoring only 12 goals. His stay became compounded when he fell out with teammate Leroy Sane and hit the German winger. He was suspended and fined for the incident.
“We want to thank Sadio Mane for the past season,” Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen told the club website. “It certainly hasn’t been an easy year for him, suffering an injury just before the World Cup and missing out on participation with Senegal, whom he had earlier led to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations triumph and World Cup qualification.
“Due to the long downtime, he wasn’t able to contribute as much to FC Bayern as we and he himself had hoped. That’s why we decided together that he should start a new chapter in his career and make a fresh start at another club.”
The twice African Footballer of the Year will now play with Christiano Ronaldo, who joined the Suadi club last year. Aside from Ronaldo and Mane, they also have midfielders like Marcelo Brozovic and Seko Fofana from Inter Milan and Lens respectively. They also signed Alex Telles from Manchester United.
