A former teammate of Sadio Mane's has admitted to thinking the Senegalese was "horrendous" when he first joined the club they played together at.
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Before going on to establish himself as one of the world's best wingers at Liverpool, whom he joined in 2016, Mane was trying to find his feet at the elite level at Southampton.
The Senegal attacker joined the Saints in 2014 from Austrian giants RB Salzburg, and seemed to make an immediate impression in the Premier League with his strength and speed, although he was still far from the finished product.
Ex-Southampton forward Shane Long, who played for the club between 2014 and 2022, remembers initially believing Mane was not good enough for the England's top level.
"When Sadio first came to the first team, he was horrendous," he told Ben Foster's Fozcast podcast.
"Obviously, he wasn't horrendous, I take that back, but he had these moments where you thought, 'ooh, he's got something here'. You used to kick him and hurt yourself, he had that strength about him.
"He could take on everybody and then kick it into Row Z trying to cross the ball, he could run it off the pitch.
"But then [then-Southampton Ronald] Koeman managed to coach him and train him, and he just hit this run of form which made you think this guy could go to the very top."
Mane contributed to 37 goals in 75 matches over two seasons for the Saints before earning a big-money move to Liverpool.
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At the Reds, the African star won every trophy available to him, including the UEFA Champions League and Premier League titles, and played a hand in 162 goals across all competitions in the process.
