Senegal coach Cisse encourages Mane to join Bayern

Liverpool forward Sadio Mane has been encouraged to sign for Bayern Munich by his Senegal coach Aliou Cisse.

Mane has been strongly linked with a move to the Bundesliga champions, with just 12 months left to run on his current contract at Anfield.

The Premier League club are said to have turned down two advances from Bayern for the 30-year-old, who has lifted six major trophies in as many seasons with the Reds.

The Senegal international hinted at wanting a move away when on international duty and Cisse believes Bayern represent the best option for Mane's career if he is to leave Liverpool.

"I tell my boys to try to work out the contract issues so that when their respective championships resume, they will have already found a base," Cisse told reporters.

"I heard about Sadio at Bayern. For me, it is a club that is of its standing. Bayern is intense, pressing football with a German coach.

"Sadio played in Salzburg in Austria, which is a border country, and that means he is not going into unknown territory.

"For me, the club where he will feel the best is Bayern."

Mane has scored 90 goals in 196 Premier League games for Liverpool since joining from Southampton in 2016.

Only Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy (104), team-mate Mohamed Salah (118) and Tottenham's Harry Kane (134) have managed more in the competition across that period.

Jurgen Klopp's side appear to be close to signing Benfica forward Darwin Nunez as a replacement for Mane.

But Bayern sports director Hasan Salihamidzic has suggested the German side are considering multiple options in the transfer market, with the Mane move far from a certainty.