Motherwell defender Bevis Mugabi has opened up on the time he faced Liverpool superstar and former youth teammate Sadio Mane.
Mugabi recently penned an extension at Fir Park that will see him stay with the club until 2021. He had up until recently only been contracted to the club until January.
There was once a time though where both men were on the same side, when they were prodigy’s at Southampton. Most recently they faced off on the international scene when Uganda faced Senegal.
Mane definitely has a fan in his former teammate. Mugabi told the Daily Record (page 57, 23/11/19): “I played against Sadio Mane in the last 16 and that was a good experience. I think he’s still in my pocket!
“Maybe it will get me a move to Liverpool. His sharpness in the game and his decision-making was so much quicker than everyone else’s, and that’s borne out in the amount of goals that he has scored. That’s the big difference between being an elite player and an average player, that quick thought process and sharpness.
“I was at Southampton with him as well, so I’ve seen his progression from being at Southampton to making that step up at Liverpool. Now he’s probably one of the best players in the world.”
Mugabi and Mane have taken different paths
Mugabi and Mane have walked very different career paths since their days in the Saints youth system. Mane broke into the St Mary’s first-team before making the switch to Liverpool.
He has made himself one of the world’s best since, bagging a Champions League in the process. He is also well in contention for a Premier League medal this season too.
Meanwhile, Mugabi couldn’t break into Southampton’s first-team and found himself at Yeovil Town in 2016. He left there following their relegation to the National League and is now at Motherwell.
Perhaps when he empties his pockets after a match, Mugabi will be reunited with Mane, judging his comments anyway.