Klopp admits Mane regret

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he wanted to punch himself after rejecting the chance to sign Sadio Mane for Borussia Dortmund in 2014.

The 24-year-old held talks with the Bundesliga club two years ago, but Klopp opted not to pursue a deal for the then-Red Bull Salzburg forward, who then moved to Southampton in a £11.8m transfer that summer.

Klopp says he knew he had made a mistake after watching the Senegal international adapt to the pace of the Premier League so easily at St Mary's, and put right his error by signing him in a £34m deal in June.

"It was a pretty simple decision with Sadio this summer because I made the mistake at Dortmund where I didn’t take him," he said.

"We met each other, we talked but by the end I didn’t feel this [strikes hands together]. About three months later I would have punched myself, so I already knew that the next chance I have, I would take it. So it was not a difficult decision.

"When the club came this summer and Michael Edwards [Liverpool’s new sporting director] said we have an opportunity there were no talks necessary any more. It was a case of: ‘Let’s do it.’"

Mane, who scored twice for Southampton against Liverpool at St Mary’s last season, faces his former club for the first time on Saturday and Klopp admits that he is happy with the way things worked out.

"I have made more mistakes in my life like this but he would have been more expensive if we had taken him to Dortmund and then he had been sold to Liverpool, so all good for Liverpool. The more I think about it, that was my first Liverpool decision. Nice," the German continued.

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