Sadio Mane has rightfully been garnering praise recently for his scintillating form. Jamie Carragher, former Liverpool defender and local legend, has joined TLO and others in espousing admiration for the Senegalese dynamo.

“I absolutely love him, he’s my favourite player at the club,” said Carragher of Mane. “He’s brilliant, he’s always got a smile on his face, always there, always gets knocked about, gets goals, setting others up.”

“He’s the one who came in at the very start under Klopp, his first real big signing, and I think ever since then he’s just been getting better and better. He’s just a machine.”

That is certainly high praise from the Sky Sports pundit, especially for a former defender. Mane has certainly leveled up over his Liverpool career, and is well on his way to becoming one of the best wide players in in club history. Carragher agrees with this assessment of Mane by comparing him to another Liverpool legend.

“I always talk about the teams I played in never possibly had, say, a John Barnes, that world-class wide player,” said Carragher. “But I think Liverpool have got that now...If you start comparing people like Sadio Mane to John Barnes then that shows how well he’s doing.”

While Mane hasn’t had the cachet of Mohamed Salah among pundits and opposing fans over the past couple of years, people are catching on to just how good of a player he truly is. Several of the world’s best, including perennial Ballon D’Or winner Lionel Messi, have listed Mane as the best or one of the best in the world this past year. Carragher counts himself among the believers.

“Even after the first couple of games, I said Mane, probably along with Raheem Sterling, was possibly the best left winger in the world.”