Ex-Liverpool Legend Explains How The Club Can Cope Without Sadio Mane

The Senegalese international ranked 14th on the Reds top scorers list with 120 goals in 269 matches and departs for an initial fee of around £27m.

Mane will be sorely missed at Anfield, but with the arrivals of Darwin Nunez and Fabio Carvalho who are set to be deployed in the forward positions, his load may be lightened a little.

“I’m surprised to be honest. Mane’s my favourite player so I’m disappointed to see him leave,” Downing said.

“He’s everything that Jurgen Klopp likes in a player: his attitude, he’s a proper team player, works hard, scores goals and is an all-round top player.”

“Losing big players is always disappointing but over the years Liverpool have done that and they went from strength to strength from then,” Downing says.

At Liverpool similar situations can be comparable in the departures of Phillippe Coutinho and Gini Wijnaldum.

Downing believes this resilience should stand the Reds in good stead going into next year without Mane.

“Losing big players is always disappointing but over the years Liverpool have done that and they went from strength to strength from then,” Downing says.

“Klopp’s recruitment has been unbelievable. People were saying they paid a lot of money for Salah at the time but looking at it now it was a snip.

Mane was the same, Jota has come in and done an exceptional job. So you can’t really question him.”

With Luis Diaz arriving on the left and Nunez through the middle, it looks like a new beginning for the Reds attacking output - but the elder influence of Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino will also have a huge impact.