Since Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo's much talked about move to Saudi club Al Nassr, the league has seen widespread interest among the top footballers. Ronaldo recently featured in an Arab Club Champions Cup contest between Al Nassr and Al Shabab. The match in a 0-0 draw. After the match, Ronaldo was not pleased by the looks of it. He was closely followed by a cameraman after the match. While initially Ronaldo did not react, he was annoyed later as he threw water at the cameraman and asked him to move away.
Bayern Munich announced on Saturday that Senegalese striker Sadio Mane was in talks "about a change of club" with reports suggesting he was destined for Saudi side Al Nassr. 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.
With AFP inputs