Soccer Star Sadio Mané Spotted With Cracked iPhone Despite Earning $200,000 a Week

(Getty Images | Laurence Griffiths)

Liverpool Football Club’s winger Sadio Mané has made headlines for carrying around an iPhone with a cracked screen despite earning an annual salary of millions.

The 27-year-old Senegalese soccer star, who signed to the northern England-based Liverpool FC in 2016, was photographed walking into Leicester’s King Power Stadium on Dec. 26, 2019, carrying an iPhone that appeared to have a large crack across the top half of the screen.

It was Liverpool FC themselves that took to Twitter and shared the photo that got people talking. Captioned “Evening Reds,” the photo of Mané showed the player walking into the stadium in order to gear up for game time. Eagle-eyed fans then zoomed in and noticed the damaged iPhone.

Mané, alongside his teammates, was preparing for a match against Leicester City FC on the evening of the same day. Fans, however, were preoccupied by the cellphone in his hand and were left reeling by the player’s public display of humility.

“Get Mané a new screen protector lads,” commented one Twitter user, before the photo was picked up by numerous media outlets and quickly went viral.

According to the Daily Star, Mané’s annual salary is in the region of 7.8 million pounds (approx. US$10.2 million), a far cry from the soccer player’s poverty-stricken upbringing. But Mané has a reputation for modesty and prefers not to flaunt his wealth.

Mané celebrates after scoring in the FIFA World Cup Russia Group H match between Japan and Senegal at Ekaterinburg Arena in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on June 24, 2018. (©Getty Images | Ryan Pierse)

“Why would I want ten Ferraris, 20 diamond watches and two jet planes?” Mané asked rhetorically in an interview with TéléDakar in October 2019, as translated from French by Plataforma. “What would that do for the world? I starved, I worked in the fields, I played barefoot, and I didn’t go to school.

“Now I can help people,” Mané continued. “I prefer to build schools and give poor people food or clothing. I have built schools [and] a stadium; we provide clothes, shoes, and food for people in extreme poverty.

“In addition,” the star soccer winger explained, “I give 70 euros (approx. US$78) per month to all people from a very poor Senegalese region in order to contribute to their family economy.

“I do not need to display luxury cars, luxury homes, trips, and even planes,” Mané reflected. “I prefer that my people receive a little of what life has given me.”

As it turns out, not only is Mané’s humble attitude toward his soccer player’s salary known by his teammates, but one teammate in particular thought that Mané deserved recognition. Back in October 2019, Dutch player Gini Wijnaldum gifted Mané with a brand-new iPhone 11.

Mané took to Instagram to share his teammate’s kind gesture with his social media following.

While Mané could easily have afforded an iPhone of his own, the poignancy of the gift was not the expense. Instead, what mattered was Wijnaldum’s consideration of his teammate and Mané’s gratitude upon receiving the gift.

Unfortunately, it seems that this iPhone 11 was the very same iPhone later caught on camera with a broken screen. However, the take-home message is one of humility and friendship, and it’s a message that is continuing to inspire thousands.