In form Liverpool winger, Sadio Mane, has stated that El Hadji Diouf is one of his heroes and hopes to emulate him by winning the African Player of the Year award. The Senegalese international is in the form of his life as his sparkling form has led Liverpool to the top of the table after 11 rounds of matches.
His incredible form has put him among the nominees for this year’s African Player of the Year. And the former Southampton man hopes that he goes on to lift it like El Hadji Diouf did.
“El Hadji Diouf is one of my heroes… I’ll win it one day like him,” Mane said after being included as one of the nominees for the award.
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Mane’s words might ring a bell of concern among the Reds’ fans since Diouf didn’t entirely ooze the role model impetus during his stay at the Merseyside. His time at Anfield was marred with controversies as he had more clashes with senior players than goals for Liverpool.
Steve Gerrard and Jamie Carragher were two of those senior players who incurred the wrath of the former Queens Park Rangers player. Indeed, his antics were so vengeful that his former manager, Neil Warnock, placed him lower than a sewer rat.
It wasn’t so many weeks ago when Diouf had a go, once again, at Liverpool legends. While talking about Mario Balotelli, he revealed that he warned the Italian to not join the Reds.
“I told him [Balotell] not to go to Liverpool,” Diouf told L’Equipe.
Diouf believed that Liverpool wasn’t the place for him since players like Steven Gerrard—who, according to Diouf, was lesser of a talent than the former AC Milan player—always said negative things about him because he was fueled with jealousy.
“It wasn’t made for him, that things couldn’t go well with Gerrard, who has never had his talent and then said negative things about him.
“Gerrard is a jealous man who doesn’t like men of character. Mario is a good person that you should listen to. He’s not a guy who is going to cause problems in the dressing room.”
Sadio Mane’s career under Jurgen Klopp has started with a bang as he has 6 goals under his name after only 11 games. He has formed a devastating partnership with Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino to ensure Liverpool’s surge in the Premiership thus far.
