Warning, this is not an exercise. Senegalese international and renowned player Sadio Mané will buy the Bourges club (National 2), the French club learned this Wednesday. The Al-Nassr striker has a project in mind for this team, whose leaders he knows: Mané has been talking with club president Cheikh Sylla for three years, explained the mayor of Bourges Yann Galut.
“Sadio Mané is committed to Bourges through Bourges Foot 18 to carry out a project to professionalize local football,” declared the club in a press release about the upcoming arrival of the best player in the history of Senegal in as majority shareholder.
“Professionalize” Bourges Foot 18
“We will work together to develop and structure the club, to professionalize it,” confirmed the player, connected by videoconference during a press conference organized at Bourges town hall.
“When, in October 2020, President Cheikh Sylla called me to tell me that Sadio Mané wanted to speak to me on the phone, I initially thought it was a joke,” admitted the mayor. The Bourges Foot 18 club, which is currently an association, will become a company of which Sadio Mané will be the majority shareholder, from January 2024.
Ligue 2 objective
“He is not there to sell dreams, but to create strong links between Senegal and France,” Sadio Mané’s manager, Bakary Cissé, declared by videoconference. The amount of capital of the company has not been specified, nor the place that Sadio Mané will occupy in the future structure.
The club, which is aiming for Ligue 2 within a few years, should soon be strengthened by the arrival of Senegalese international Moussa Konaté, notably through Amiens or Dijon, announced club president Cheikh Sylla.