Sadio Mane says he is delighted to have joined Ronaldo’s side Al Nassr

Senegalese striker Sadio Nane is delighted to have joined Al Nassr in the Saudi league.

Mane in an interview revealed that he turned down the advances of former Liverpool team-mates Roberto Firmino and Fabinho when deciding on which Saudi Premier League club to join.

“I spoke with (Roberto) Firmino for sure. He wanted me to come to the wrong club! I’m joking! He called me two or three times to convince me to come to Al Ahli because I had contact with them from the beginning. But, in this time when Al Nassr come then I chose Al Nassr,” said Sadio Mane, Al Nassr forward.

Mane admitted that Al Ahli’s Firmino and Al-Ittihad’s Fabinho both attempted to convince him to join their respective sides but the lure of teaming up with Cristiano Ronaldo proved to be too tempting for the former Liverpool attacker.

“Of course, (Jordan) Henderson is also here. He sent me a message two days ago to wish me good luck with my team and I’m really, really excited to meet all of these great guys and also out on the pitch to face each other for the first time and hopefully I am going to win against you guys!” Mane said.

The 31-year-old Mané left Bayern Munich after a single season with the German champion in which he struggled for goals, was ruled out of the World Cup with injury, and was briefly suspended by the club.

“Really, really happy to be part of this project and to make sure this league becomes one of the best, for sure. I think if you see how they work on it and how they are doing their best to bring all these great players, I think you can see how ambitious they are,” mane said

Besides Ronaldo, his new Al-Nassr teammates include former Manchester United defender Alex Telles, midfielder Marcelo Brozović, who captained runner-up Inter Milan in this year’s Champions League final, and the Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina.

The Senegal forward scored 12 times in 38 games for Bayern, but only one of those goals came after a leg injury in November which ruled him out of the World Cup. Mané was also suspended for one game by Bayern for “misconduct” in April after German media reported he had struck teammate Leroy Sané in the locker room after a Champions League loss to Manchester City.

Additional sources • AP

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