Liverpool legend was 'horrendous' when he first played in England, according to former team-mate

Liverpool used Southampton as a feeder club between 2014 and 2019.

The Reds paid the Saints close to £200million in transfer fees during that period and received Rickie Lambert, Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne, Sadio Mane , Virgil van Dijk and Danny Ings in return.

Some of those players flopped, while others shone at Anfield.

The two biggest hits have undoubtably been Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk - who have since achieved legendary status at Liverpool.

Mane and Van Dijk have both won the Premier League , Champions League , FA Cup , EFL Cup , UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup with the Reds.

Van Dijk is still at Liverpool and is currently serving as club captain.

Meanwhile, Mane left Liverpool in the summer of 2022 after scoring 120 goals in 269 games.

Mane joined Bayern Munich from Liverpool but he now plays in Saudi Arabia with Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr.

The Senegal forward previously had spells at Metz and Red Bull Salzburg before moving to Southampton in 2014.

Mane netted 25 goals in 75 games during his two seasons with the Saints, which convinced Liverpool to pay £34m for him.

However, one of Mane's former Southampton team-mates has claimed that he did not make a very good first impression at St Mary's.

Shane Long - who played 245 times for Southampton from 2014 to 2022 - said on a recent appearance on the Fozcast : 'When Sadio first came, for the first six months, he was horrendous.

'Obviously he wasn't horrendous, I take that back. He had these moments where you thought, "Oh, he's got something." You used to kick him and you'd hurt yourself. He's got that strength about him. But he's only small, he's quick.

'But he could take on everybody and kick it into row Z trying to cross the ball. He could run it off the pitch, those sort of things.

'But then [Ronald] Koeman managed to coach him and train him and stuff, and he just hit this run of form and you thought, "Oh my god, this guy can just go to the very, very top."'

Mane spent eight seasons in the Premier League in total and he was voted into the PFA Team of the Year four times.

He scored 111 goals and provided 38 assists in 263 Premier League games.