Sadio Mane punch cost more than Wrexham pay their squad in a month

The whopping £308,000 fine handed out to Sadio Mane by Bayern Munich would comfortably cover the monthly wage bill of the entire Wrexham squad, the National League outfit owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Bayern came down hard on the former Liverpool attacker after he allegedly punched team-mate Leroy Sane, leaving the ex-Manchester City winger with a bloodied lip.

The incident came after Bayern were beaten 3-0 by City in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. Mane was suspended by the reigning Bundesliga champions and reports in the German media claim he was fined around £308,000 (€350,000).

Head coach Thomas Tuchel insisted he was not aware of where the money would go and opted to let the club and player decide. But it is large enough to go towards plenty of worthy causes, as Wrexham could attest.

It is such a sizeable amount that it would be enough to cover the wage bill for the whole squad at National League promotion hopefuls for an entire month. The Welsh outfit’s accounts show that they spend £2.5m-a-year on player wages – hardly a small figure for a club in the fifth tier of English football.

Hollywood stars Reynolds and McElhenney have pumped huge sums into the club since completing their blockbuster takeover in late 2020. However, Mane’s fine would still cover their entire wage bill for the 30-day period which stands at a little over £200,000 per-month.

Wrexham are on the brink of promotion to the Football League, requiring just one more win from matches against Boreham Wood and Torquay. The squad has been promised a trip to Las Vegas should they ensure they will play in the EFL for the first time since 2008, and they have been tipped to spend big in the summer transfer window in an attempt to continue their rise up the pyramid.

In terms of Mane’s future, he returned to action during Bayern’s 1-1 draw with City in the return leg. Tuchel confirmed that the 31-year-old had been training and that his apology has been accepted.

“It was a heavy incident. It was very important that it was cleared before the next training session,” the former Chelsea boss said.