Mane moves ahead of Diouf in Senegal top scorers

Mane moves ahead of Diouf for Senegal scorers

JOHANNESBURG, June 7 (ANA) – Sadio Mane moved ahead of El Hadji Diouf into fifth position on the all-time scorers list for Senegal, with a goal for his country in their 3-1 friendly international win over Zambia, in Thies, on Saturday.

Mane, 29, took his tally to 22 for the West African nation.

Mane, who plays for English Premier League (EPL) side Liverpool, was voted as Premier League Fans’ Player of the Year for the 2019/2020 season.

Mane was crowned African Player of the Year for the 2019 season. He was nominated alongside teammate Mohamed Salah of Egypt, and Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez of Algeria.

Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp signed Mane from Southampton in 2016 at the age of 23, which raised a few eyebrows at the time. His transfer fee of 34 million pounds (R666m) made him the most expensive African player in history at the time.

Together with Salah, Mane formed a formidable strike partnership which helped guide Liverpool to their first EPL title in 30 years in the 2019/2020 season.

This season Liverpool finished third, with Salah ending second on the scoring charts with 22 goals. His tally was one behind Tottenham’s Harry Kane who won the EPL Golden Boot award. Mane was in 15th place with 11 goals to his name.

Last week, Salah was ranked inside the top-50 highest paid athletes in sport for 2020, it was announced on Tuesday.

Sportico’s annual top-100 paid athletes in sport had the 28-year-old Salah ranked 43rd, making him the highest paid African athlete for 2020. Salah was also just above American tennis sensation Serena Williams who was ranked 44th with her total earnings of 35.5m US.

The Liverpool forward had reported earnings of 36.1m US dollars, with 25.1m US from his salary and 11m US in endorsements. – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman