Bundesliga – Leroy Sané finally with Bayern Munich

BERLIN, Germany – Long-awaited Leroy Sané is finally at Bayern Munich: the talented winger (24) officially joined Bavaria from Manchester City on Friday, an ambitious recruitment which should allow the German champion club to rejuvenate still its workforce to reconquer Europe.

The left-hander signed a five-year contract until June 30, 2025, Bayern said in a statement.

The Bavarian club did not specify the amount of the transfer but the German press speaks of 49 million euros, while Sané had only one year of contract with City. This sum comes with bonuses that could push the bill up to 60 million, according to British media, which would make it the Citizens’ largest transfer.

According to the specialist magazine Kicker, the vice-champions of England also secured a resale clause from the player which would give them a 10% share of the transfer price in the event of a possible resale.

His transfer had almost been concluded last summer but Sané had suffered in August of a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the right knee which had derailed the operation. At the time, the sums were around 100 to 120 million euros.

The economic crisis linked to COVID-19 then passed through there and forced the hand of Citizens.

Especially since City, which needs cash flow to comply with the requirements of financial fair play from UEFA, also had a knife under their throat: for lack of agreement this year, Sané would arrive at the end of contract in June 2021 and could then leave without any compensation.

Replay

It had been several months since the player had indicated his desire to join the Bavarian giant, according to German media.

According to Bild, to go to Bayern, Sané would have agreed to review his salary ambitions downwards because of the impact of the epidemic, and this to « significantly less » than the 20 million euros of annual salary which had been mentioned in the past. This would, however, place him among the highest paid in the locker room along with Manuel Neuer and Robert Lewandowski.

This great hope of German football has had an almost blank season in England: the ultra-fast winger has played only 11 minutes this season in the Premier League, returning at the end of the match against Burnley at the end of June, for the 30th day.

The native of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, was transferred in 2016 from Schalke to City for … just over 50 million.

He was one of the defining elements in the Skyblues titles of 2018 and 2019, even scoring the decisive goal against Liverpool in the tight title race of the 2018-19 season.

He will join the collective training of Munich from next week and will therefore not end the season with the Citizens, nor in the league, in the Cup or even in the Champions League (round of 16 second leg against Real in August).

Reclaim the C1

Not selected for the 2018 World Cup, to everyone’s surprise, Sané is now part of the hard core of Joachim Löw’s team, for which he has scored five goals in 21 matches.

“Our goal is to bring together the best German players at FC Bayern and the signing of Leroy underlines this goal,” said Bayern boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Because with this transfer, Bayern once again seems to want to bet on the « made in Germany » by attracting the best national talents.

With Neuer, Süle, Kimmich, Goretzka, Gnabry and now Sané, more than half of the workforce of the Nationalmannschaft would start with the Red and White!

Thanks to this long-awaited transfer, Bayern is still continuing its process of rejuvenation, undoubtedly necessary to regain the C1 which has escaped them desperately since 2013.

Now with Sané, Coman and Gnabry on the wings, the German champion, who can still hope to win the treble this season (German Cup final on Saturday against Leverkusen and round of 16 return from C1 against Chelsea in early August), Slowly turning the page on the Ribéry-Robben era, both of whom left the club a year ago.