Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O’Hara has said that Liverpool are ‘not the same’ without Bayern Munich forward Sadio Mane and they won’t challenge Manchester City for the Premier League this season.
The TalkSPORT pundit has said that despite replacing him with tricky Colombian winger Luis Diaz, he won’t be able to replicate the Senegalese international’s output in a Liverpool shirt.
The Reds have picked up just nine points from their opening six games, including a defeat to Manchester United and draws to Fulham, Crystal Palace and Merseyside rivals Everton.
O’Hara said on the radio station that Liverpool won’t be in contention for the league:
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“Everyone’s chasing City but I don’t think Liverpool are challengers this year. The injuries have really hurt them, Thiago is a big loss. I don’t think they have the same edge in midfield that they had in the past.
“Everyone’s saying it and it is clear to see that they’re missing Mane. Whatever you say, Luis Diaz is never going to get the numbers that Mane got.
“Mane was probably Liverpool’s best player. Salah’s obviously the goal scorer and he would do something out of the ordinary and you go ‘wow’, but over 90 minutes - you watch Mane’s contribution on and off the ball and he brought a lot out of the other players around him."
"I just think he’s a huge loss for them - they’ve lost their best player.”
Mane scored 120 goals in 269 Liverpool matches, and was often credited as the catalyst that turned Liverpool from mid-table to title challengers as the first major signing under Jurgen Klopp.
He has picked up well from where he left off, too, already scoring five in seven matches for Bayern under Julian Nagelsmann.
Although Mane is a huge miss, the main issues at Liverpool lie in the midfield - which they are looking to address with the loan signing of Arthur Melo, and the prospective future deal for Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham - a man set to face Mane this term.
Topics: Liverpool, Liverpool Transfer News & Rumours, Sadio Mane
Chris Stonadge