Can Sadio Mane make as big an impact at Liverpool as John Barnes? Why not? He's started just as impressively

Can Sadio Mane make as big an impact at Liverpool as John Barnes? Why not? He's started just as impressively

Mane has scored 35 goals in 74 games during an injury-hit, AFCON-interrupted spell at Anfield - now he has the opportunity to get even better.

SUNSHINE, smiles, a perfect pitch, a packed ground and fans fuelled by a heady afternoon combo of pre-match ales and first day cheer. The stage was perfect for an opening day clash between two of the Premier League’s big boys, Arsenal and Liverpool.

In the Reds’ line up for the first time, wearing number 19, was Sadio Mané – a £34million summer signing from Southampton. For a fee that hovered around a record one for Liverpool, there wasn’t universal approval of the transfer.

Some pointed to then Saints manager Ronald Koeman’s decision to publicly reveal issues with Mané regarding “focus in training” and timekeeping amid speculation he would move to Manchester Unied.

Others suggested his form came only in bursts while more wondered what ultimately happened to the reported interest from Old Trafford. If he’s not good enough for them, why is he good enough for us, they asked.

Those questions soon faded into the August shadows at The Emirates Stadium that Sunday afternoon. The Senegal forward had showed no signs of first-day nerves in front of a 60,000 crowd and the millions watching on TV, and had turned in a confident and competent display on his debut.

But with The Reds leading 3-1, Mane decided to demonstrate the style that had persuaded Jürgen Klopp to track his career for the previous four years – and ultimately sign off on a big fee for a player many considered far from the finished article.

Cutting in from the right wing, his pace and close control took him between the flailing Arsenal pair Nacho Monreal and Calum Chambers while his pinpoint powerful drive was past Petr Cech’s glove before his brain could send the signal to dive.

With the ball barely in the back of the net, Mane continued his run before leaping onto the back of his manager, while in the away end incredulous delight was writ large across the sun-scorched face of every Liverpool supporter there.

What a goal. What a day.

Arsenal eventually put some credibility on that score-line of two years ago this week, the match finishing 4-3 to Liverpool. But as Reds filed out of the ground, all the talk was of Mane, his finish, and even the highest praise you could heap on a Liverpool winger could be heard among the mutters: Could Mané be ‘the new John Barnes’?

On Sunday, Liverpool kicked off the new season with a comfortable 4-0 win over West Ham at Anfield and Mané – for the third season running – was among the opening day scorers, grabbing two goals.

And the last Liverpool player to score in three successive opening matches in the Premier League?

John Barnes.

Some despair at comparisons between past and present but if it’s all in the name of getting excited about the club you love and the players who play for it then where’s the harm?

Barnes – rightly regarded as one of the finest to grace the Anfield turf – hit double figures for goals in his first four seasons at Liverpool, totting up tallies of 17, 14, 28 and 18 as defences struggled to deal with a man who had every attribute a top player requires.

Mane is not held in anywhere near as high a regard. Yet now in season three on Merseyside, his report cards show he scored 13 in his first campaign in red and 20 in his last.

Already he has two this time around. So could he pass the Barnes benchmark of 28 this season?

Anyone who watched Liverpool pre-season witnessed a player in Mane that was on it – he was fit and firing and showing little sign of rustiness or fatigue. That translated into a first-day showing that not only resulted in two goals, but was central to Liverpool’s dominance against Manuel Pellegrini’s side.

Mane, at his best, drifts from the wing, to the traditional 10 position, into spots favoured by an old-school number nine. And it’s that, allied to his pace, strength, timing, ability to beat a man and unwavering will to win, that makes him such an asset for Liverpool.

In his first season, his star shone brightly and many mourned his departure to the African Cup of Nations, with Liverpool’s results dipping notably in his absence. A knee injury meant further frustration, with the player missing eight games with the problem.

Last season, Mane’s early momentum was hit by a sending off at Manchester City, and a subsequent ban, and a hamstring injury that followed. His form suffered, while many worried about his attitude following his displacement from the right flank to the left to accommodate Mo Salah.

With both Salah and Roberto Firmino claiming greater chunks of the 91 goals scored by the forward trio last season, it’s easy for Mane’s contribution to be overlooked.

Yet despite all the question marks around form, character, attitude and the rest, Mane bounced back to not only outstrip the statistics of a player like Barnes in three of his best four goal-scoring seasons at Liverpool, but also to be arguably The Reds’ best player in the Champions League final.

It was a long way from the figure that was left laughing at himself for a poor decision in a Merseyside Derby last December. While a year previous to that he left Bluenoses choking on their turkey with a last-minute Goodison Park winner, a year on he blew a golden opportunity to repeat the trick at Anfield, allowing a piss-poor Big Sam-fuelled Everton to escape with a point.

The turnaround since then has been remarkable and recognised, with talk that despite three years remaining on his contract, Mané is set for an improved deal. And after 35 goals in 74 appearances for Liverpool, figures that apparently haven’t gone unnoticed at clubs including Real Madrid, it’s easy to understand why.

The man who has been capped 55 times for Senegal does not have the world superstar status of Salah, nor does he have the flamboyancy – on or off the pitch – of Firmino. But he’s loved at Liverpool and rightly so. In fact, perhaps he deserves a little bit more.

With the African Cup of Nations now a summer tournament in 2019, and Mané currently on form and injury-free, those joy-tainted predictions of August 2016 might still come true.

Could he be as exciting as John Barnes at his best? If he tops 28 goals this season, who will care enough to argue?

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