Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson is adamant their struggles this season are not because of Sadio Mane’s departure last summer.
After a six-year stay at Anfield, Mane opted to join Bayern Munich at the end of the 2021/22 season having won every trophy available to him during his time on Merseyside.
In his absence, Liverpool have underwhelmed. The Reds went into the 2022/23 campaign as one of the favourites to win the Premier League title, but will now do well to finish in the top four.
Jurgen Klopp’s men were dumped out of the UEFA Champions League following a 6-2 aggregate loss to Real Madrid in a rematch of last year’s final, while they were eliminated in the fourth rounds of both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
But Robertson insists Liverpool’s problems are not down to Mane’s sudden exit.
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When asked on BBC Radio 5 Live whether Liverpool miss Mane, Robertson replied: “To be honest, no.
“Don’t get me wrong, I had a fantastic relationship with Sadio in terms of me and him down the left-hand side for five years. He was a joy to play with, every game.
“I loved playing with him, we linked really well. He helped me going back, the way I helped him going forward. And yeah we linked up really well. When he left, there was probably no-one more gutted than me because of the relationship we had.
“But we’ve got fantastic players that can play in their positions. We brought in Darwin [Nunez], who has been really good to start.
“We’ve got Luis Diaz who has obviously been injured and re-injured and things like that, which is difficult. Jots [Diogo Jota] can play there, who’s got injured.
“We have been a little bit unlucky with injuries, I think once we get them back fully fit then yeah.
“Look, Sadio was a wonderful player, a Liverpool legend but he wanted to go and he went to Bayern Munich and we wish him all the best.
“We need to pick up the pieces and I think we’ve got the players to do that.”
