Leroy Sane was the leading summer signing for Bayern Munich when he arrived from Manchester City in July 2020. He must now urgently return to the Premier League.
Sane’s €60m signing was a boon for Bayern, a boon for their sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic and indeed a boon for the Bundesliga, proving he could attract an elite player in the Premier League at the height of his career.
But he is now struggling to raise the levels he achieved at City, where he scored 39 goals and provided 46 assists in 135 appearances, winning two Premier League titles along the way.
More than meets the eye
Sane also won twice in the Bundesliga in his two years with Bayern, scoring 27 goals and 28 assists in 94 matches giving him remarkably similar minutes per goal.
“That time has made such a strong impression on me,” Sane later said of his time in Manchester. “I still make use of it today. [Pep Guardiola] It practically reprogrammed me at a tactical level in Manchester.”
But where Guardiola was obsessed with Sani’s game, Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann ignores him when he can.
Since Robert Lewandowski left for Barcelona in a €50m deal, Nagelsmann has dispensed with a point in his attack, effectively lining up a system that accommodates four players in Sane’s file at a time.
The problem is that Sane isn’t in the top four for Nagelsmann’s role, or even the top five, with Sadio Mane – €41m arrival from Liverpool – Thomas Muller, Jamal Musiala, Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry all ahead of him in the attacking standings.
Sane did not start a game until the third round of the league this season, and only then was it due to Musyala’s injury.
Despite Gnabry’s injury, Leroy Sane still plays for the B team in today’s training. Kingsley Coman replaced Gnabry on Team A and started alongside Mané, Müller and Musiala at the top four. Janabri is not expected to be abroad for long [@BILD] pic.twitter.com/ymkF3eNyT9
Bayern and Germany (@iMiaSanMia) August 17 2022
Sane has found himself in the B-team in training even when Gnabry joined Musiala on the sidelines recently, and now it might be a good idea to carve out some time in his Bayern career.
“It took me to a whole new level,” Sunny also said of Pep. “He did it every day until I did at one point having a little man in my ear with his voice telling me what to do, when and how.”
City’s Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus have lost to Chelsea and Arsenal respectively this summer, so they can make a wing for more power in depth. Maybe it’s time to get his agent in Guardiola’s ear.
