Ever since he was a kid, Sadio Mane has been hard to catch.

The irrepressible Saints forward, who is approaching the end of his first season in England, has spent much of the campaign sprinting clear of Premier League defenders.

But, back when he was a child in Senegal, there was something else he was often running away from.

“Sometimes I didn’t go to school,” recalls Mane, a smile growing across his face.

The reason for skipping class?

“I run away to go to play [football] with my friend in the road,” he says.

As the 23-year-old begins to recount his childhood growing up in Sedhiou, in the south of Senegal, it becomes apparent that he cannot remember a time when he wasn’t obsessed with the sport.

“I think the football it was [one of] the first things in my life, so since I’m young,” he explains.

“When I was young, I think only the Premier League I watched on TV. Only Premier League. It was a big dream for me.”

It was not an easy one for Mane to follow, however, with no one else in his immediate family sharing his feelings for the sport.

“My family is a religion family, it’s a big religion family,” he says.

“Nobody likes football, but that’s life.

“But now they like it! But before, nobody liked football.

“Nobody believed that I would be footballer, because it was not passion for them – just only me in my life.”

As his talent blossomed, though, Mane’s family came around.

“When I was young in my city, everybody, I don’t know, but everybody said I am the best player in city, so I was, I think, maybe I was good and that’s why everybody say that,” he explains.

With the support of his uncle, who is a big fan of football, Mane was allowed to move to a youth academy in Dakar, at the age of 15.

That was his big break, leading to him being picked up by French club Metz, from where he made the switch to Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg, before last summer’s £10m transfer to Saints.

“When I’m 15, I leave my city to go to Dakar and my uncle bring me in Dakar, so he put me in one centre, and now the centre after this centre I go to France, and, after France, Salzburg and then here,” he says.

Mane, who has two younger sisters, reveals his family are now complete football converts and are always watching on TV when he is playing, although there is one person whose nerves mean she cannot quite bear to look.

“Every game they watch,” he says. “When I am playing, they always are on the TV to watch it, but my mother never watches my football, because it’s so emotional.

“She can’t watch football when I’m playing.”

She might have to soon, though, as Mane adds: “I think one day I will bring everybody here, my family here, to come to watch my football.”

When they do arrive, they will be happy to find that ducking out of class is a thing of the past for Mane.

His English has come on in leaps and bounds since his arrival on the south coast, which is a result of the intensive lessons he undertakes twice a week.

So determined is Mane to improve his language skills that it is not uncommon for staff at the club’s Staplewood training ground to go to use a meeting room only to find it is occupied by the forward and his teacher.

He is also keen to challenge himself by conducting his interviews in English, and seems genuinely taken aback at the suggestion he is doing well at it.

“Maybe...you said it’s good! Maybe,” he says, laughing almost in disbelief.

“I am doing English lessons every week, two times, so I am happy with that, because my English is getting better.

“It’s difficult if you don’t understand people. Some people speak quickly, so I have problem to understand this, but if they speak normal, slowly, [I can].”

Having spent so much time with his teammates, Mane insists he has no problem understanding any of them, believing that has helped his performance on the pitch.

The Senegal international has scored six times in 25 Premier League appearances for Saints, and has been particularly effective since Christmas-time.

“It’s not easy,” he says of adapting to a new country.

“Everything is not easy in the life, but you have to be every time positive if you want to make it work, so I was just positive, and I had the football.”

Mane, an effervescent character with a captivating smile, adds: “I can say I am happy and happy in the team.

“When I came, everybody was nice to me and this makes faster a bit my adaptation. It was good and I am happy about that.”

Now, his focus is on putting smiles on the faces of the Saints supporters faces this afternoon, as Ronald Koeman’s side host Tottenham.

Mane is aware of what the game means to the fans, with former manager Mauricio Pochettino returning, and he assures them that the players are just as desperate for a win.

“I think not only especially the fans, but I think this game is very important for us – one of the biggest games of the season,” he says.

“We will try to give our best and I think the fans will be not disappointed, for we will give our best to win the game.”

A victory would push Saints closer to a European spot, and Mane, who has experience at that level from his time in Salzburg, is confident they will secure one.

“Everything is possible and everybody is believing that, so I think we’ll do it,” he said.

“I think to play in Europe is a dream for everybody.

“It’s good, and it’s a good experience for a footballer and it’s also important and good for the club also.

“It will be great to play this.”

Whatever happens, though, this is one season that will leave Mane pinching himself.

“A big dream. I never believed this in my life that I would be in the Premier League,” he says, smiling.

“It’s like the dream has become reality.”