Liverpool
Why Sadio Mané Turned Down Manchester United Before Joining Liverpool
Mané explains rejecting Manchester United in 2015 and choosing to remain at Southampton. to join LFC
Sadio Mané has explained why he declined a move to Manchester United in 2015, opting to remain at Southampton for another season before completing a transfer to Liverpool in 2016. At Southampton he scored 10 goals in 30 Premier League appearances as the club finished seventh, their best placing in 25 years.
Mané says his primary concern was regular playing time in a United squad that already featured established attacking names. “I was talking to Van Gaal at that time. Rooney was there. And Di María was there … and Depay was there. When they failed to get me, they bought [Anthony] Martial,” Mané explained in a new video from Rio Ferdinand Presents on YouTube.
He recalled a personal call from the manager and a candid conversation about where he would fit. “Van Gaal called me and he said, ‘Mané, how are you? What are you doing?’ He said, ‘I want you to come to Manchester United.’ Okay, now I’m talking to my agent.
“[Van Gaal said], ‘We’ll see what is the best, because I know you’re a good player and you can help the team, and we can help you also to become a better player. And then I said, ‘Okay, so my question: you have Depay, you have Rooney, you have Di María, you have Van Persie … so where am I going to play?’ That was my question, because me, I want to play.
“He said, ‘I know your talent, you’re good. But if you do good training, good impression, you will play. But we have another player which is also good.’ I was not convinced about his explanation. But at the time, me, I was not ready, I can say. I was young. I still needed someone to help me more. And one or two more years to become what I want to be. Because I was still in Southampton, I was not consistent. And then we said, ‘Okay, we’ll see.’”
Mané also revealed he held talks with Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham Hotspur and felt “more convinced than the Man United project.” “Because Man U was too many … the problem was too many big players,” he said.
A year later Liverpool signed Mané for £36 million ($47.1 million). He went on to win six trophies with the club, including the Premier League and the Champions League, and in 2022 was voted the second best player in the world in that year’s Ballon d’Or rankings.
Van Gaal later listed Mané among several players he had tried to sign while at United, underscoring the club’s transfer ambitions at the time.
Barcelona
Ronald Araujo’s Liverpool revival has changed the picture completely
Ronald Araújo has turned an uncertain Liverpool loan into one of the season’s standout stories so far.
Liverpool have not always found loan signings easy to trust, which is why the reaction to Ronald Araújo’s arrival in August was measured rather than enthusiastic.
The defender joined on a season-long deal with an option to buy, arriving from Barcelona as club captain but with only 11 La Liga starts in 2025-26 behind him. Once widely regarded as one of the finest defenders in Spanish soccer, his reputation had been clouded by concerns over rash decisions, positional errors and injuries. Many saw the move as a hurried attempt to cover defensive gaps.
Less than three months later, the picture looks very different. Araújo has emerged as a strong candidate for Liverpool’s player of the season so far, having adapted quickly to both right back and central defense. He has started six of the club’s eight Premier League matches and has been praised for his ferocity and commitment.
That edge has made him an immediate favourite with supporters. His style has been described as pure Barclays defending, and social media has responded in kind to “Big Ron”. In Sunday’s 2-0 win over Brighton, he was named Player of the Match after producing a sliding header tackle inside his own box to protect the clean sheet. He won all five of his duels, made 11 defensive contributions and reached 36.3 km/h, reportedly the fastest speed in the Premier League this season.
His impact has not been limited to defending. Araújo already has two Champions League goals and one assist, with the standout moment a backheel for Dominik Szoboszlai in the comeback win over Atlético Madrid. He also made a long pressing run in that match, a sequence that underlined how quickly he has become part of the team’s identity.
The move has also provided a fresh start after his leave of absence from Barcelona for mental health reasons. Jamie Carragher said: “The fans have absolutely fallen in love with him straight away,” and added: “Sometimes you have players like that. They’ve come, they’ve got a bit of a backstory. At Barcelona maybe they were happy to see him go, but the Liverpool supporters opened their arms and gave him a big cuddle, and he seems to be enjoying it.”
Liverpool hold a £47 million option to buy him at the end of the season, though his age means the decision will not be straightforward. Araújo is enjoying the moment for now, but his resurgence has already given both clubs plenty to consider.
Arsenal
Arsenal face major selection doubts before Liverpool trip
Arsenal’s injury list is growing before Liverpool, with Rice, Saka, Saliba and others in doubt.
Mikel Arteta has been left juggling a growing list of fitness worries ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Liverpool, with Declan Rice among those under an injury cloud. The midfielder was forced off against Everton last weekend after, in Arteta’s words, he finished with “a problem”, leaving his availability for Sunday’s clash at Anfield uncertain.
Rice is not the only concern. Arteta admitted after Arsenal’s Carabao Cup exit that “Riccardo was out, Noni was out with an ankle and Declan Rice finished with a problem the other day,” underscoring the scale of the issue facing his side.
Some absences, though, are already clearer. Bukayo Saka has joined William Saliba on the list of long-term injuries after damaging his left quad in the Champions League draw with Bayern Munich. Saka is expected to miss at least six weeks and will not be back before the start of December at the earliest.
Saliba’s situation remains less defined. The defender has not played this season since surgery on a persistent back problem that became too much for him at this summer’s World Cup. Arteta has described the signs in his recovery as “very, very positive”, but he has not offered a return date, with the end of November mentioned only as a loose target.
There is also uncertainty around Christos Tzolis. The summer signing picked up a thigh problem while on international duty with Greece in the fall and was ruled out for around three weeks. He may yet have a role on Sunday, but his status remains unresolved.
Elsewhere, Max Dowman will not be able to win Arteta over through the FA, although Arsenal could still try to secure the teenager’s availability by appealing his red card against Fleetwood. The 16-year-old was dismissed for kicking out at Harrison Neal, with the force described as minimal but still enough for a straight red. With no VAR at this stage of the Carabao Cup, Michael Salisbury’s on-field call stood at the time. Dowman was found guilty of violent conduct, which the FA Handbook describes as “when a player uses or attempts to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball.”
Chelsea
Carabao Cup exit opens the door for Liverpool and Chelsea
Arsenal’s exit leaves Liverpool and Chelsea with a clearer path in the Carabao Cup this season.
With the 2026-27 season still in its early stages, Liverpool and Chelsea will already be looking at the Carabao Cup as a realistic route to silverware. The competition has taken on added importance after Arsenal’s surprise defeat to League Two side Fleetwood Town on Tuesday removed one major rival from the picture.
That result has sharpened the focus on Wednesday’s fourth-round tie at Anfield, where Liverpool and Chelsea will meet knowing one of them is guaranteed to leave the competition. With the rest of the round not yet completed, the winner will move a step closer to a trophy that now looks more open than it did at the start of the campaign.
The wider history of the competition underlines that point. Aside from Newcastle United’s triumph in 2025, the Carabao Cup has been won by one of England’s “Big Six” every year since 2013. Since Leicester City’s success in 2000, only five other winners have come from outside Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
This season, however, several of those familiar contenders have already fallen away. Man Utd and Tottenham exited in the third round, while Arsenal are now out as well. Another heavyweight will go on Wednesday when Liverpool host Chelsea, and the quarterfinals will then feature no more than two of the Big Six.
Manchester City remain involved too, and their own fourth-round meeting with third-placed Brighton & Hove Albion will remove another leading threat. Even so, the shape of the draw has left both Liverpool and Chelsea with a genuine opportunity.
Of Liverpool’s four possible trophies this season, the Carabao Cup is the least glamorous alongside the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup. Yet the chance to win it is real, and Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola appears to understand that his best opportunity for silverware in his first season at Anfield may have already arrived.
