Previous Saints manager proven correct for trusting Cristiano Ronaldo's teammate | OneFootball

Southampton bringing Sadio Mane on their books was a slightly risky move over a decade ago. Still, Ronald Koeman never gave in to these fears and worked wonders with Mane at St. Mary's.

A few months ago, Romeo Lavia took time to make a brutal Southampton confession. Now, the midfielder never looked lethargic across his single Saints campaign but the Manchester United fixture was where he dropped his concentration level slightly.

Honestly, he should be ready for attempting an Ugochukwu-like top corner to close out the game but watching Cristiano Ronaldo's arrival can be distracting. That's because Ugochukwu and many other elite players wish to be competing against or even alongside him.

Talking about the latter, playing with one of the game's all-time legends also acts as an individual quality benchmark. From Southampton's perspective, they have previously employed Jose Fonte, Cedric Soares and many others, so, they know the potential of having such handpicked players in the roster.

Ronald Koeman never remained in doubt regarding Sadio Mane

Similarly, this distinguished list also contains Sadio Mane whose St. Mary's career is no stranger to Southampton fans. Inspite of that, recruiting him also brought some risks about him continuing his goalscoring knack for the Saints as he did before.

Surely, the Southampton fanbase must've raised their eyebrows when Mane joined the club but there was one person who was never in doubt. That name was of Ronald Koeman who was full of admiration and enthusiasm about the prospect of training the wide attacker.

In Koeman's words, Football League World quoted his decade-long comments: "It is incredible how many goals he has scored from his position, and I hope that he will do the same for us."

The rest is history and a quite cherished one for every Southampton fan. Nowadays, the Saints can only crave having a dressing-room filled with figures like Koeman and Mane.

Let's hope Southampton do get to witness such squads again at their disposal.