Sadio Mane's close friend mentions racism as cause of fight between him and Leroy Sane

Sadio Mane's PR manager, Bacary Cisse, has claimed that Bayern Munich winger Leroy Sane racially insulted Mane which led to their bust-up in April 2023.

Mane's fallout with former teammate Leroy Sane is believed to be one of the paramount reasons Bayern Munich offloaded the former.

Officially, the reason for Mane's altercation with Sane after Bayer's 3-0 loss against Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League in April 2023, remains unknown.

Nonetheless, reports claimed the German-born Senegalese racially abused Mane which lead to the latter reacting out of character in the dressing room by punching Sane.

In an interview with After Foot RMC, Cisse refused to give details on the incident, however, when asked whether Sane racially abused Mane he responded:

"Yes, indeed. I can't enter into certain details. That's why I said there was ingratitude from Bayern's part. It's crazy. Everyone with a knowledge of European football knows that Sane is a very condescending guy, while Sadio is very calm and has shown that everywhere he played.

"Sane has exceeded the limits. Many wrong things were said about what happened. Many dirty things came out from the German press. They sided with Sane against Sadio. They said Sadio was fined €500k, which is a lie," he said as quoted by Daily Mail UK.

Cisse disclosed that Sane later apologised and pleaded for a response from Mane through some of the teammates.

'Sane apologized to Sadio after the incident. Why? Because he knew it was him who f***** up. He called some players and told them: "I sent a text to Sadio, tell him to respond".

'Sadio responded and accepted his apology, but told him that shouldn't happen again.'

Sadio Mane has departed Bayern after completing a move to Al Nassr in a deal worth £34 million.

According to Cisse, Mane's sale from Bayern was not for footballing reasons.

"It wasn't a footballing decision (to sell him),' he said. 'Sadio's salary bothered the Germans, they didn't understand how an African joins the club and becomes the top earner ahead of everyone, so they wanted to get rid of him."

"They never called the player's representatives. They never told Sadio face-to-face that they wanted to get rid of him. They just sent (Thomas) Tuchel to tell him that he will be a third-choice left winger."

"Sadio has nothing to prove to the Germans. He didn't become what he's become thanks to Bayern. It was thanks to Liverpool. Bayern were ungrateful. They were paying an African all this money, and that hurt them."

Bayern manager, Thomas Tuchel speaking on Mane's departure admitted that the Senegalese has left on an unwanted note.

"Leaving Bayern hurts me. I would have wished for a different ending. We had a long, big hug and we both agreed that we don't like what's happening now, but we think it's for the best in this situation," He told Sky Germany.

"Sometimes things don't work out as everybody wants it to work out. In person, I have always had a very good relationship with him and this will stay. I can totally understand that he feels hurt and I also wouldn't feel happy if things like this happened.

"Obviously it's something that we didn't bring into the full potential, which is my job and my responsibility, but in this particular situation, it was the best solution to untie the knot.

Meanwhile, Sadio Mane's move to Saudi Arabia has seen him become the highest-paid African footballer with £661,000 weekly and £34.37 million yearly tax-free earnings at Al Nassr.

EE/KPE