Transfer Centre

Ronald Koeman: 'Southampton would not even sell Sadio Mane for £100m'

By Tom Nightingale, Reporter | 04 December 2015

Ronald Koeman insists that Southampton would not sell reported Manchester United and Bayern Munich target Sadio Mane "even for £100m".

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has insisted that even an offer of £100m would not tempt him to sell Sadio Mane.

The 23-year-old attacker has been linked with a move away from the South Coast club in recent weeks, with reports yesterday suggesting that Bayern Munich were intending to fight Manchester United for the Senegalese's signature.

However, Koeman has previously stated that Mane is not for sale, and he addressed the newest rumours by maintaining his stance when asked if he would consider selling key players.

"You can ask again about Sadio, Manchester United, Chelsea, but we will sell nobody in January," he told reporters. "Already we spoke about that situation. We sell nobody in January. Nobody - not even if they pay £100m.

"I think that [Mane] can still improve in some cleverness to know what his position is on the pitch, both inside and outside. I think that still he can be more dangerous if he knows exactly the moment to have that movement in the space behind the defenders.

"In front of the goal he can be more of a scoring player but he is young - 23 years old - and a great player. It is a pleasure to work with him."

Mane scored 10 goals in 30 Premier League games in his debut campaign in England last season, including hitting the quickest hat-trick in Premier League history against this weekend's opponents, Aston Villa.