The German champions left Mane out of a friendly match in Tokyo, posting on social media: “Sadio Mane is in contract negotiations about a change of club and is therefore not in the line-up today.”

The 31-year-old former Liverpool star is expected to become the latest high profile player to join the cash-rich Saudi league.

As Bild and Kicker magazine reported Mane was on his way for a medical with Al Nassr, Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel declined to be drawn on the player’s future.

“We are still in the transfer window and I would like to see what’s going on and wait and see how things will happen,” he told reporters after Bayern’s 1-0 win over Kawasaki Frontale in Japan.

Mane would be another major signing for the club that pulled off the first coup of a raft of signings by Saudi clubs, luring Cristiano Ronaldo, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Mane won the Champions League and Premier League in six seasons with Liverpool and was a key part of Jurgen Klopp’s devastating front three with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

When Liverpool won their first English league title for 30 years in the pandemic-disrupted 2019-2020 season, Mane scored 18 goals.

But in the summer of 2022, when he won the African Player of the Year, Mane decided he wanted a new challenge — unconfirmed rumours said he had tired of sharing the limelight with Egypt’s Salah at Anfield.

Bayern made a big play for Mane, promising to make him the focal point of an attack which had just lost the services of Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona.

After a strong start to the season at Bayern, it soon become clear that Mane was not clicking in Bavaria.

In a Bundesliga game against Werder Bremen in November, Mane suffered an injury to his fibula and his season was put on hold.

The injury forced him to miss the World Cup in Qatar at the end of last year in a crushing blow to Senegal’s chances.

While Mane returned to the Bayern team in 2023, his problems were underlined when he became involved in a physical altercation with teammate Leroy Sane following a Champions League defeat to Manchester City.

Bayern reportedly fined Mane around 350,000 euros ($385,000) and gave him a one-match suspension for his part in the incident.

He ended the season with an underwhelming 12 goals in 38 games across all competitions.

He is set to quit Bayern with two years left on his contract.

On the international stage, Mane helped Senegal to the Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022.

Apart from Ronaldo Al Nassr have also signed this summer Croatia midfielder Marcelo Brozovic, Brazil full-back Alex Telles and Ivory Coast midfielder Seko Fofana.

The post Bayern’s Sadio Mane set to join Ronaldo at Saudi’s Al Nassr first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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Mane was a key figure in the Senegal team that defeated Salah-captained Egypt in the 2021/2022 Africa Cup of Nations final and in a 2022 World Cup play-off.

Both the African title decider in Cameroon and the Qatar eliminator in Senegal were won by the Teranga Lions after penalty shootouts.

Mane scored in each shootout while the final was decided before Salah could take his kick, and he blazed wide in the play-off.

The Senegalese successes have made Mane favourite to win a second straight Player of the Year award after 2019 — the following two editions were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Should Mane win in the Moroccan capital, he will become the first Bayern Munich star to be voted the top African footballer.

The closest a player from the German giants has come to winning was in 1999 and 2001 when Ghanaian Samuel Kuffour finished second.

Mane moved to Bayern last month on a three-year deal after joining Liverpool in 2016 from Southampton and Anfield boss Jurgen Klopp calls him “a complete forward”.

“My only criticism of Sadio is that maybe at times he is the only one not to realise just how good he is.”

Liverpool defender Andy Robertson hailed the predatory instincts of the 30-year-old: “Whenever he is in front of the goal you do not think he will miss.”

Salah lifted the award in 2017 and 2018 and the victory of Mane the following year raised to four the number of winners from Liverpool with another Senegalese, El Hadji Diouf, topping the 2002 vote.

– South Africans dominate women hopefuls –
The Egyptian had an outstanding 2021-2022 season for the Reds, sharing the Golden Boot award with South Korean Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur.

Salah was voted Premier League Player of the Season by both the Professional Footballers’ Association and the Football Writers’ Association.

Algeria captain and Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez is the other former winner among the 10 nominees having come first in 2016 after helping rank outsiders Leicester City become Premier League champions.

Mahrez and Algeria have struggled lately, however, with the defending champions making a humiliating first round exit from the Cup of Nations, then losing a World Cup play-off against Cameroon.

The 10 candidates for the Club Player of the Year include Brazilian Tiago Azulao, whose chart-topping seven goals in the CAF Champions League took Angolan outfit Petro Luanda to a surprise semi-finals spot.

South Africans dominate the Women’s Player of the Year nominees with 2018 winner Thembi Kgatlana, Andile Dlamini, Refiloe Jane and Bambanani Mbane among 10 hopefuls.

Ghana, notable absentees from the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco after losing a first round qualifier against Nigeria, have two representatives, Evelyn Badu and Doris Boaduwaa.

Nigeria, the powerhouse of women’s football in Africa for decades, have one candidate, highly decorated Asisat Oshoala, who plays for 2022 European Champions League runners-up Barcelona.

Ruled out of the Cup of Nations in Morocco by injury, Oshoala has been voted African Player of the Year four times, most recently in 2019.

Choosing the best women’s national team will be delayed until after the Cup of Nations final between Morocco and South Africa in Rabat on Saturday.

African football legends, CAF technical committee members, coaches and captains of national teams and of some clubs and selected media pick the winners.

The post Mane, Salah renew rivalry with top African award up for grabs first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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