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Klopp misjudged young Mane on first meeting

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says he wasn't impressed with star attacker Sadio Mane when they first met.

Speaking on Rakuten’s Made In Senegal documentary about Mane, the German boss admitted that his first meeting with the Senegal star did not go as he would have liked.

Klopp first met Mane when he was boss of Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund and he remembers not having much time for a young Mane.

"I remember my first encounter with Sadio. It was in Dortmund," said Klopp about the 27-year-old.

"There was a really young guy sitting there. His baseball cap was askew, the blond streak he still has today. He looked like a rapper just starting out. I thought, 'I don' have time for this.'

"Our team back then really wasn't bad. I needed someone who could handle not being a starter at the very beginning, someone I could develop."

Klopp boasts to being a good judge of character, but admits he was "wrong", however he still knew Mane was talented and tracked his career before snapping him up for the Reds for in June 2016 for £34 million from Southampton

Klopp added: "I'd say I have a pretty good feeling for people, but was I wrong. I followed his further career and continuing success in Salzburg. In Southampton, he just dominated."

- TEAMtalk media

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