Desire Segbe Azankpo goes from Oldham flop to joining friend Mane at Bayern Munich

Sadio Mane is being joined by a familiar face at Bayern Munich.

The Liverpool star completed a big-money move to the German champions this summer, ending his six-year stay at Anfield.

While Mane will be adapting to life in a new country and getting to know his new teammates, the 30-year-old will have a familiar face around at the Alianz Arena.

That comes as a result of Desire Segbe Azankpo signing a two-year deal with Bayern’s reserve team.

The striker, who knows Mane after progressing through the Generation Foot Academy in Senegal together, is a long-running friend of the new arrival.

When Mane left his homeland to join Metz in 2011, the forward requested that he be accompanied by Segbe who went on to join the French club’s B team.

However as Mane left to join RB Salzburg, Segbe went in a different direction by playing for a number of clubs across France, Russia and Holland

This included a spell with Oldham where the Benin international failed to impress with just four goals in 28 appearances.

Despite their differing career paths, Mane and Segbe have always remained close friends, as revealed in an interview with Lookcharms earlier this year, in which the ex-Oldham man said: “He (Mane) always had big ambitions.

“He always wanted to go as high as possible. He comes from a poor background, like all of us. 

“And we say to ourselves that we have to succeed in order to help the family, to take over, because there are people behind who are hungry.

“Sadio has always dreamed very big. And I remember when he spoke to me about the Senegalese selection… he wanted it so much.”