Sadio Mane turned down a £25million move to Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United before signing for Southampton in 2014.
The winger, who played for RB Salzburg in Austria at the time, decided it was ‘not the right club and not the right moment’, and eventually moved to rivals Liverpool for £34million in 2016.
He has managed 36 goals in 75 games for the Merseysiders, with three in three this season after moving to the No 10 shirt.
Mane told SuperSport: “I could not believe it, because even some club wanted me like Manchester.
“The wrong team wanted me by the way — of course United.
“I spoke with Van Gaal and they even made an offer, but for me it was not the right club and not the right moment.
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“But with this it’s the right moment, the right coach and the right club.
“Yeah I spoke with him and Salzburg asked for £25m, but with all respect I was not that good for £25m and that’s why I didn’t go there.”
Mane also spoke about the difficulties he faced trying to become a footballer in Senegal, and why he left at a young age to pursue his dream.
He said: “It was a tough moment for me in Senegal, when I was young, I was born in a village and I grew up there.
“They don’t like football, especially my dad as well and my uncle, they preferred for me to go to school all the time to study.
“But at that time I was only focusing on being a football player.
“But they always tell me ‘how can you be a football player? It’s not not possible!”
“This village is far from Dakar and we don’t have family there.”
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“But for me, I want to be a football player but I don’t know how. It’s the only thing I know and always training, training, training.
“They were never convinced I was going to be a football player. They never tried to help me until the day I left my school when I was 15 or 16.”