Messi said he was the best: Sadio Mane, that's how a great player is created

Liverpool's ace Sadio Mane was declared the best player of November in the Premier League, and just a few days earlier he took fourth place on the list of the best players in the world in the "France Football" poll, which awards the Ballon d'Or.

- I think it's a shame that Mane is only fourth - said the best of all, Lionel Messi, who gave the Senegalese a maximum of five points in the FIFA selection for "The Best".

When Messi declares someone to be the best, and considering the standards the Argentine has set in world football, then that player is truly special. And Mane, since coming to Liverpool, is only growing, progressing, getting better from match to match...

For the man who discovered him while playing in the lower French leagues, Mane's football development is anything but unexpected.

"Sadio is certainly one of the best players today and an incredible football story," said Kristof Freund, Salzburg's sports director.

Mane became an example of how the Austrian club works - a search on all parts of the planet for talents, offering them a platform from which they can reach the heights.

Uncut diamonds grow in Mozart's city, there they are polished and polished like football, they become shiny and ready to go further.

- That is our story, of which we are proud. Our scouting team consists of people who know the job and the target group - 16, 17, 18, 19, maximum 20 years old. And they know what they are looking for from players: speed, intelligence, good mentality, character, sound thinking... - explains Freund.

Sadio Mane has all these qualities, which Freund noticed in 2011 when he was playing for Metz. Freund saw something that others did not, as Mane, then 19, scored just two goals in 19 matches in the French Second Division and his team was relegated.

At the beginning of the 2012/13 season, in the Third Division of France, Mane scored one goal in three matches, but Salzburg decided to "take a risk" - they offered four million euros for the third division player and brought him to the Eastern Alps.

- Sadio was probably the player who reached the greatest heights from the smallest point. We saw great potential - how he moves, how fast he is, how he wants to score... When we talked to him, we saw how dedicated he is and how much he wants to take the next step. When we spoke face to face it was clear that he was determined, but it was not easy to make a change. Another country, different language, different culture... It was really interesting to watch him progress - said Freund.

It's often the little things that separate great players from the rest.

- For me, mentality is more important than talent. Well, you can see that someone is good, that he is fast, you can see that he moves properly, but you have to see what he is like outside the field, what kind of teammate he is and what kind of relationship he has with the other guys, how he reacts to defeat... Those are, for me, very important characteristics, maybe even more important than playing football - explains Freund.

Mane scored 45 goals in 87 matches for Salzburg before leaving for Southampton in 2014 for €13 million. And the "saints" made the right choice, because Mane moved to Liverpool two years later for 40 million.

Liverpool also did phenomenally, for the officially fourth player in the world it is a "ridiculous" sum, and that player is one of the most deserving of the title of European champion.

And, as things currently stand, he will be one of the most important footballers in the season in which Liverpool should finally become champions of England after 30 years.