With just the Champions League and Europa League finals left in the club game this season, the attention of the football world turns to big-money transfers.
Potentially one of the biggest of the summer could involve Leroy Sane moving from Manchester City to Bayern Munich. The winger has been the subject of speculation linking him with a £80million move to Bavaria.
Bayern legend Lothar Matthaus has even revealed that he is ‘sure’ that the Germany international will be plying his trade in Bavaria next season, while president Uli Hoeness last week revealed the club’s interest in the 23-year-old. Bayern are now the favourites to sign the winger.
Undoubtedly talented, but not a mainstay at City
Sane has emerged as one of the most exciting wide attackers in the world game in the past few seasons. The winger scored ten goals and produced ten assists in the Premier League in 21 starts and ten substitute appearances.
Despite his impressive stats in the English top-flight, the fact that Sane has started just 21 of the Citizens 38 top-flight games suggests that the winger is not a mainstay of Pep Guardiola’s team.
The winger had started 27 top-flight games last season, scoring the same amount of goals, but also producing five more assists in the English top-flight.
Sane started just once in City’s last five league games, which just illustrates the point that he is not indispensable to the Citizens. Those five matches were vital for his team’s chances of winning the top-flight title, yet he failed to start the games. Some will say that Guardiola likes to rotate his squad. However, the team’s key players start the majority of league games.
Bayern move would make sense
Sane is obviously highly-rated in his homeland and at 23 years of age has room for improvement in the future. However, for him to fulfil his potential, then he has to play on a regular basis.
He is not really getting that at City. With veteran wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery leaving the Bavarian club this summer, Bayern could definitely use a new winger.
The German giants are not accustomed to spending huge amounts of money in the transfer market. That means Bayern are prepared to pay the mooted fee, then he will likely be a key player for the champions next season.
Bayern still have the likes of Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry to play in the wide attacking positions. However, it seems that the Bayern hierarchy really rated Sane and seem to be determined to pursue a deal for the winger.
The move may suit everybody
In reality, looking at the situation, Sane joining Bayern may just suit everybody. Manchester City are reportedly keen on keeping the winger and have offered him a new deal. However, his lack of appearances suggests that Guardiola would not be devastated by his sale this summer. His sale would also help City’s FFP, as they look to strengthen their squad again this summer.
Bayern would get a player full of talent and potential, who would maybe benefit from the increased freedom to play he could enjoy in the Bundesliga. It’s hard to rule this story out as fiction and it would not be a major surprise to see Sane make the move to Munich this summer.
Is Leroy Sane close to joining Bayern Munich?
