The Expert: How big a loss will Mane be to Liverpool in January?

Liverpool top of the Premier League table having scored four more goals (30) than anybody else this season. They’ve been exhilarating to watch so far, the sheer pace and energy with which they attack seeming at times overwhelming. With no European football to distract or weary them, there can be no doubting the fact that they are genuine title contenders.

There are, though, two major doubts. The first is a defence that has still kept only one clean sheet in the league. And the other is their lack of attacking depth. Most pressingly, what happens when Sadio Mane leaves in January to play for Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations? 

Jurgen Klopp has acknowledged the problem, particularly with Danny Ings suffering another long-term injury. “We watch the market all the time and we need to be prepared for different situations and one of them is injuries,” he said. “The Africa Cup of Nations we already knew about so we don’t need to be influenced or surprised about that but it could be a moment when we approach the market. It’s not about how many strikers. Three strikers is enough, I think. 

“But when Sadio is away we will be without a winger. We do not have many wingers, I would say. Robert Firmino could play as a kind of a winger, which would then give us just two strikers. That’s how it is. But it is a long way to go until January and that month is busy. If we can go to the semi-final of League Cup it could be the busiest month of the year. We need to be prepared for this for sure.” 

But in explaining what Mane’s role is gives some idea how important he has been to Liverpool this season. Liverpool’s front three is ideally balanced: Firmino leads the press and drops deep to create space; Philippe Coutinho cuts in from the left and creates and Mane offers raw pace as well as his technical ability and finishing. He’s a player so fast that opposing defences will instinctively be wary of stepping up against him - which in turn offers more space for Liverpool’s midfield. And perhaps most important of all, he seems at his best playing exactly where he does, cutting in from the right flank, making the most of his pace by attacking on the diagonal. 

Mane has scored six goals already this season, more than half as many as he got in either season with Southampton. He’s also registered two assists and he’s winning 50% more aerials per game than he did last season. He’s thriving in Klopp’s system. 

At £35m, Mane was by some margin Liverpool’s most expensive summer signing, but it’s clear why they wanted him. Liverpool needed somebody quick who would help lead the press. At Southampton Mane a little more than two regains per game through tackles and interceptions and he has continued that at Liverpool with an average of 1.6 tackles and 0.3 interceptions per league match so far this season. 

But really what’s notable is how similar his game is now to how he played at Southampton: slightly more key passes per game, slightly more shots per game, slightly more dribbles per game. He’s playing the same way but more so, elevated by the system in which he’s playing. “I'm lucky enough to be working with one of the best managers in football,” Mane said last week. “It was meant to happen and I'm very happy to be learning all the time from him. I knew I was coming to a team that wanted me, to a manager who knew me well, and I was coming to work hard and to help.” 

But while that suggests just how astute it was of Liverpool to sign him as a player who fitted their requirements perfectly, it also suggests how difficult he will be to replace for the three or four weeks of the Cup of Nations.