Jamie Carragher has claimed that Sadio Mane is the best left-winger Liverpool have had in 30 years.
The former Reds’ enforcer believes that the Senegalese international is the “first world-class winger” the club have had since John Barnes after he won the Premier League Golden Boot award last season.
Carragher explained how Mane, alongside Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard and Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, are the best available left-sided attackers in the world due to the recent struggles of Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar.
Writing in his column for the Telegraph, Carragher admitted that the absence of a quality left winger could have held the Reds back in recent Premier League challenges.
“As left-sided attackers, I would rate Mane, Raheem Sterling and Eden Hazard as currently the best,” he said.
“I also think that Mane is Liverpool’s first genuinely world-class winger since John Barnes and the club’s best wide left player for almost 30 years.”
“That in itself is a big explanation for why Liverpool have never quite taken that final step in the Premier League.”
OPINION
There is no doubting that Mane is one of the best left-sided players since he arrived at Anfield. The Senegalese flyer has improved year upon year for the Reds and enjoyed his best returns in front of goal last season with 22 goals. It wasn’t just his goals that made him an important player for Liverpool, with his work rate off the ball equally impressive. The 27-year-old only registered a single assist, but it wasn’t for the want of trying – Mane averaged 1.3 key passes per game as well as completing 1.4 dribbles according to WhoScored, proving that he did beat his man and create chances with ease as well as finding the back of the net. To be consistently called world-class, Mane will need to add assists to his game on top of 20 plus goals every season. When you compare him to Hazard, who Carragher also mentioned, you can see how he was involved in more goals last season. The Belgian was involved in eight more goals despite scoring six less himself, proving how valuable assists can be. Mane must add that to his game to stay at the top of the chart amongst the best in the world for years to come.
