Danny Ings hailed Sadio Mane as one of the sharpest forwards in the business as he laughed off the notion that the No.19 has had anything but a brilliant season for Liverpool.

After a difficult period in December, the 26-year-old is currently back to his incisive and creative best - evidenced by his 17th goal of the campaign in last weekend’s 3-0 win over Bournemouth.

That strike, prodded home at the second attempt to open the scoring at Anfield, established Mane as the most prolific Senegalese player in Premier League history with 44 in total.

Ings applauded that achievement but also provided insight on why his teammate’s influence on this Liverpool side goes beyond the headline statistics.

“For anyone’s ‘bad’ season, that’s extremely good! There’s no such thing as a bad season for him, he has been absolutely brilliant,” he told Liverpoolfc.com.

“He is so sharp; when he faces anybody up in a one-v-one situation you fancy him every single time.

“His runs in behind, his intelligent movement coming short, inside and helping Robbo get down the outside – they’re the sort of things that go unnoticed sometimes.

“From the outside looking in, it’s [about] goals and assists. He gets all of that, all of our front three do. But it’s the movement and work-rate that really catches my eye.”