Sadio Mane reveals why he rejected Man United for Liverpool after Louis van Gaal failed to convince the forward to move to Old Trafford

Former Liverpool forward Sadio Mane has revealed he rejected the offer to join Manchester United and instead move to Liverpool because he wasn't convinced by Louis van Gaal's guarantee of game time.

Mane joined the Reds for £30million in 2016, and went onto make 269 appearances, scoring 120 goals. He formed a formidable relationship with the likes of Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino before departing for Bayern Munich in 2022.

Before moving to Liverpool, however, there was stern interest in his services from United, but a move never materialised. Speaking on the situation, Mane has revealed that there was contact from United, but chose not to move to Old Trafford because of van Gaal.

'Manchester United called me that time,' Mane said via ESPN. 'I was talking to van Gaal that time. [Wayne[ Rooney was there. And [Angel] Di María was there. And [Memphis] Depay was there.

'When they failed to get me, they bought [Anthony] Martial. Van Gaal called me and he said, "Mane, how are you? What are you doing? I want you to come to Manchester United".

'I said, "Really?" He said, '"Yeah". I said, "OK. Now I'm talking to my agent". [Van Gaal said] We'll see what is 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.'

A move was seemingly in the works, but United's squad depth was the issue.

Mane said he put it straight to the Dutchman, and was told that he would get the game time he wanted if he could prove himself.

But that wasn't enough to convince the Senegal winger, and, after a short time, he was instead wearing Liverpool red.

Mane continued: 'I said, "OK, 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. I talked to the coach, but he told me that I will play if I'm good. But at the time, me, I was not ready, I was young. I still needed someone to help me more. And one or two more years to become what I want to be.

'I was still in Southampton. I was not consistent. And then we said, "OK, we'll see".'

He also revealed he spoke to Tottenham, and was interested by the project Mauricio Pochettino presented to him, but a move never materialised.