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According to France Football, Real Madrid are set to reignite their interest in Liverpool forward Sadio Mane, who was reportedly close to a move to the Spanish capital before Zinedine Zidane surprisingly left his post at the end of last season.

What's the word, then?

Well, the Spanish champions had even allegedly agreed personal terms with the Senegalese attacker, only for Zidane's exit to put an end to negotiations.

Since then, Mane has gone from strength to strength and is currently Liverpool's star man ahead of Mohamed Salah. The 26-year-old has 11 goals in his last 11 games, and 20 in total across all competitions - he is just one off the top of the Premier League scoring charts, and he doesn't even take penalties.

Jurgen Klopp has gotten quite inventive with his excuses this season. FFC's James Jones think he has no one but himself to blame for Liverpol's poor form in the video below...

Now Zidane is back in the Santiago Bernabeu hotseat, a move for Mane looks to be at the top of Los Blancos' priorities, although Liverpool will obviously make it hard for him to leave as they did when Philippe Coutinho found the lure of Barcelona too hard to resist.

Liverpool should demand Isco-plus-cash in return

Since the departure of the aforementioned Coutinho, the Reds have severely lacked a source of creativity in midfield. Most of Jurgen Klopp's current options seem to be too pragmatic, such as Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Fabinho and Gini Wijnaldum, with no real No.10 type player in there like Coutinho.

As a result, Liverpool and sporting director Michael Edwards should kill two birds with one stone and demand Isco, plus a lot of cash, from Real Madrid for Mane's signature.

The Spanish international can play in a centre-attacking midfield role, like Coutinho did, whilst he is equally as effective in a left-wing role, the position that Mane primarily occupies.

If the Merseysiders do find themselves in negotiations with Madrid over Mane, getting a hefty financial package and Isco in return would be a masterstroke from Edwards and Klopp.