New signing Sadio Mane is quickly turning out to be a fan favourite at his new club Bayern Munich.
The 30-year-old is already well known in the footballing world for his generosity and philanthropy.
Sadio Mane has helped develop his village, Bambali, by building schools, hospitals and other improvements.
A devotee of the Islamic faith, Mane had made headlines earlier this month when he and teammate, Noussair Mazraoui, did not hold a pint of beer during a sponsor photoshoot.
This move earned him some admiration and good faith among Bayern and other supporters.
On Sunday, Mane took this a step further and managed to earn the respect and admiration of the 1,000+ fans who attended Bayern Munich’s public training session.
The Senegalese forward spent 105 minutes with the supporters and made it a point to meet every single one of the 1,000-odd people in attendance at the training ground.
The player also took selfies and shared jokes with some. Truly a people person.
This is not the first time a Bayern player has gone out of his way to interact with fans in recent history.
In 2019, Phillippe Coutinho, another former-Liverpool player, stayed for almost two hours after the training to sign autographs and click pictures.
This was even after his teammates and the coaching staff had left the training ground. Maybe it’s a Liverpool thing?
Regardless of the positive impression left on the Bayern faithful, the club decided against offering a contract, instead ending his loan move due to his sub-par on-field performances.
And similar sub-par performances are becoming a source of disgruntle at Allianz Arena for Sadio Mane.
His good off-field work is not being matched by his on-field performances.
While the €32 million acquisition has already scored thrice in five league games, he is yet to reach the level of play he did when he played at Anfield.
He’s really a nice guy and hard to hate, but he didn’t reach Liverpool level yet.
— $hemsi 🇩🇪 🇦🇱 (@shemsifcb) September 4, 2022
Hope he can improve vs Inter and Barca we need Sadio man
New country, new league, new team, new coaching style. It is not easy for a player to settle in and play with a team after a transfer.
And Mane supporters have been quick to defend the player. But the longer Mane’s “poor” performances continue, the harder it will for the most ardent of followers to take a stand.
Third in the league currently and drawn in the “Group of death” in the Champions League, Bayern will need all of their players, including Mane, to fire on all cylinders in order to have a successful season.
