Former Liverpool star, Sadio Mane will play his first season at Bayern Munich and will hope to retain the previous success of the club with his goals

Bayern Munich has lost one of the greatest strikers in the 21st century this summer to Barcelona. A striker that assures the team of thirty goals a season. The German team has not replaced this prolific goal poacher but can Sadio Mane step in his big boots?

Sadio Mane joined Bayern this summer from Liverpool for €32 million but not to replace Lewandowski, it was to play alongside him.

However, the Polish GOAT has forced a move to Laliga, leaving a big hole at the centre-forward position.

The Senegalese forward who has never scored 30 league goals a season will be put in to replace a forward who scores 30 league goals a season for fun.

Mane’s highest league goal tally in a season is 22 goals in the 2018/19 season which is the same as Robert Lewandowski’s lowest goal tally in the last 7 years. The new Barcelona striker has scored more than 30 league goals in 5 of the last 7 years and has created a big shoe to be filled.

Bayern Munich has already shown that they can falter without Robert Lewandowski’s goal conversion. A typical example was in the quarterfinals of the 2020/21 UCL season when the german side lost on away-goal rule to PSG.

Lewandowski’s goal conversion absence saw Bayern Munich shoot 17 times on target against the Parisians and only score three. However, PSG had only 8 shots on target in both legs and still scored 3 before qualifying to the semis on away-goal rule. This has proven that Lewandowski’s goal is vital for Bayern Munich to survive.

The good news is that the African Player of the Year appears to be more prolific from the centre-forward position, scoring 8 goals from 10 matches compared to his 10 goals from 26 matches as a left-wing forward last season in the Premier League and AFCON.

An important factor in Sadio Mane succeeding as a number 9 for the Bavarians is to let most of the forward play go through the Senegalese as it was done during Lewandowski’s many years at the club.

Verdict

Bayern Munich will still go on to win the German Bundesliga because of the gap in quality between them and their rivals.

However, the Bavarians may find it difficult to fight for Champions League glory if they do not bring in a proven striker like Harry Kane.

Advertisement