Journalist hails Sadio Mane as easily the “best player in the country”

Sadio Mane is comfortably the “best player in the country” at the moment, according to The Athletic‘s Jack Pitt-Brooke.

The Senegalese has enjoyed a superb start to the season for Liverpool, wreaking havoc with his pace, movement and end product.

On Tuesday, some of The Athletic’s writers discussed various topics of the season so far, including who the best player has been in the opening couple of months.

Pitt-Brooke picked out Mane as the star man by a distance, explaining why he thinks he is so brilliant and saying he is a better version of Luis Suarez:

Sadio Mane is the best player in the country right now, and it’s not even close.

I can’t remember the last time there was a player in the Premier League who was as fast, as imaginative, skilful and hard-working as the Liverpool forward, all at the same time.

He’s like a more disciplined and intelligent Luis Suarez.

Read Liverpool Verdict

The Premier League is full of special players, but it is hard to argue with this assessment of Mane.

I think Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah are certainly in the mix to be the best player in England right now – Harry Kane has made a fantastic start, too – but Mane possesses everything in his game.

Salah is arguably more lethal and relentless in front of goal – he has 11 goal involvements compared to Mane’s seven – but his all-round game isn’t quite as consistent and polished.

One thing’s for sure: Mane is a world-class footballer and possibly the best left-sided player on the planet currently, performing to an incredible almost every week.

The Suarez comparison is interesting, but I still think the Uruguayan is the most gifted player in Liverpool’s history, creating genius in 2013/14 and almost inspiring the Reds to title glory.