STAT: The Mind-Boggling Numbers That Prove Sadio Mane Is the Signing of the Season

Sadio Mane is - and this might surprise some people - quite good at football.

Right?

It's obvious enough to the eye test, but the sheer weight of influence still needs quantifying sometimes - so here goes.

SADIO MANE IS LITERALLY ON FIRE #EVELIV pic.twitter.com/aGyvgvRKIY

After his 94th minute winner against Everton on Monday night,the Senegal international has been directly involved in 20 goals nn his last 24 Premier League games. Or possibly 22 goals. Or possibly 21. It's true: he's literally so good, nobody's quite sure exactly how good he is.

Based on numbers from the usually reliable transfermarkt.com, it's 22 (16 goals, six assists) - but the Premier League have him two assists shorter.

Man of the match, @LFC's Sadio Mane
56 touches
41 passes
1 chance created
1 shot - the 1-0 winner, his 8th PL goal of the season pic.twitter.com/aQNXAv4kM5

A bit of digging shows that the point of contention appears to come over penalties, and whether winning one should count as an assist if the spot-kick is converted. It's hard to see how winning a penalty doesn't count as being directly involved in the goal, but the Premier League appear to disagree. More fool them, frankly.

Either way, the exact number is largely a moot point - this is a forward who's contributing to almost a goal every game over the last nine months of Premier League action. That (for the maths novices out there) is A Lot, and he's going to be a big miss for Liverpool when he heads AFCON-wards next month.

For more from Chris when he's not writing on 90min, follow him on Twitter at @ThatChris1209