Sadio Mane and De Ligt are not World Class players—Ex Bayern boss rubbishes

Sadio Mane and Matthijs de Ligt are not world class players, former Bayern Munich chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge slams club for going after the two players.

According to the former Bayern chairman, he does not understand why Bayern would go after such players let alone why the sporting director, Hasan Salihamidzic would praise the signings.

Sadio Mane recently left Liverpool in a sensational exit that broke the internet shortly after the club’s defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League, whereas De Ligt left Juventus as the Serie A club looks to rebuild.

Though Sadio Mane was quite the sensation at Liverpool, scoring 120 goals in 269 games while having 48 assists and winning both the Premier League and Champions League, Rummenigge does not consider him world class.

De Ligt on the other hand being a defender, has won the Serie A title in his 3 seasons with Juventus while scoring 3 times in 117 games.

These stats though do not impress the former Bayern chairman in anyway as he stated in a column for Sportbuzzer:

“Why has Hasan Salihamidzic & Co. been praised for recently for their summer transfers? Honestly, I can’t join in this chorus of jubilation. With all due respect for Sadio Mane and Matthijs de Ligt – both of them are not world-class players for me.

“Of course, Mane will do the Bundesliga good and score his goals, but at the age of 30, I don’t see him at the absolute top level. Had it been otherwise, Jurgen Klopp would have certainly fought harder to keep the striker at Liverpool.

“I’m even more skeptical about De Ligt. Sure, he’s only 22 years old. But the last three seasons at Juventus were lost time for him. He should have been able to develop further after his furious start to his career at Ajax. I think it is very daring to declare him Bayern’s chief of defence. You could have kept Niklas Süle.”