Deal agreed with Bayern Munich for Leroy Sane - €60m (including add-ons)

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Sane’s best spell was during the first half of 17/18, but I don’t think he ever fully recovered from the injury at Cardiff, and then returning too soon for a brief bull-in-a-china shop, substitute performance, when City were already winning 4-0 at Basle in the Champions League.

After that, his consistency seemed to suffer, and whilst still capable of fleeting moments of brilliance, (usually as an impact substitute), he never reached the dazzling heights of his original “World Class” potential.

That doesn't mean I necessarily want him to go, but there's obviously been an issue with him being omitted from the German Squad at the last World Cup, and he maybe sees a return to the Bundesliga as the best solution.

 

[nmc]

I see nobody is talking about the wages Bayern will pay Sane.

he will be getting more than De Bruyne!!!

Also will be Bayern’s B€ST paid player!

absolute madness if you ask me.

At least we now know what the attraction to make the move was - and can feel better about it. As for Sane - huge pressure to perform coming off the back of a serious injury !

 

[OrigamiNinja]

Agreed. When Mahrez plays well, Mahrez plays well. When Sane plays well the whole team plays well.

Remember Silva’s form in the centurions season? His link up play with Sane was delightful and helped to re-invigorated Silva.

Couldn't agree more. The number of times we got in behind the opposition because of Leroy that season was unreal. Silva, KDB, even Laporte were able to play balls through to him. We had so many attacking outlets and he was one of our best. This has all but disappeared from our play without him. Almost everything is into the feet of Sterling and Mahrez and we now rely almost solely on KDB producing something special.

 

[Rammy Blue]

Jayden Braaf

I’m certainly looking forward to a few cameos from him in the remainder of the games after playing the scousers.

 

[jay_mcfc]

Again it was the Bernardo and Raheem partnership that was his undoing.
Mahrez was in and out of the side in 2019.
Anyway he is off to another club on more money than Kev.No way is he a better player than Kev.
Base your opinions on KDB and Sane because of the wages. Not Marhez and game time.

A much fairer comparison is Sane to Raz. After the centurions season when Sane won young player of the year, Raz signed a contract worth 300k pw whilst Sane was offered 170k.

People can defend/back the club all they want but if any one of us were in that position we’d have done exactly what Sane has done.

 

[Woody135]

So we essentially replaced our only left winger with a third right winger?

Call me crazy but I'd take a Sane/ Sterling partnership over a Sterling/ Mahrez one any day of the week.

The latter is slower, more predictable and has little to no threat on the counter attack because they both just want to cut inside and run into defenders.

Fairly sure Sterling has been better on the left than the right. Mahrez is a better right winger than Sterling was. Sterling on the left is better/more productive than Sane was. So I’m happy with a Sterling/Mahrez rather than Sane/Sterling.

Sane was a very good option but he wasn’t happy and he wasn’t a starter so everyone moves on.
Shame he’s gone but I don’t blame anyone for it.

Mahrez has been quality all season and more consistent than Sane ever was. Granted hes a more mature player. But people need to rid themselves of early issues they had with him and realise he is one of our best players. Goes past players at ease, no one else in our team can do that

 

[jay_mcfc]

Couldn't agree more. The number of times we got in behind the opposition because of Leroy that season was unreal. Silva, KDB, even Laporte were able to play balls through to him. We had so many attacking outlets and he was one of our best. This has all but disappeared from our play without him. Almost everything is into the feet of Sterling and Mahrez and we now rely almost solely on KDB producing something special.

I actually got my initial post wrong. Sane doesn’t even have to play well to make the whole team better. He just has to be on the pitch making those runs.

Ask any manager in the world who would they prefer to play against Mahrez or Sane, I’d be surprised if 5% of them would say Sane. Ask the same question to every full back in the world and it would be less.

 

[shevtheblue]

I think we gambled on getting something out of him this season and in truth, in the preseason and the game time he got in the charity shield he looked like he was gonna be dynamite. If we could have got a tune out of him, maybe the price would have been higher or maybe it would have been the same but a season of Sane at his best is worth it. Considering all of that, i suppose the deal isn't the worst that we could have negotiated. My only big issue with it, if true, is that he hasn't been available at all this season and now when we will need him the most, especially considering Sergio's injury, he's not going to be available! Everyone keeps going on about Braaf, fuck knows if he could do it on the big stage, but we do know Sane can (when fit).
According to that report yesterday, the rags were "only" willing to pay £50m for Sancho. IF we can clear CAS, then we should use this money and add on top to get Sancho. Money-wise we can't compare as Sane was nearing the end of his contract where as Sancho isn't. If CAS doesn't work out, then i'm fairly sure we will prioritse defence and work with what we have for nearly every other position. In that scenario given that we won't have Champs League and potentially no Carabao either, we should do alright.

 

[edinburgh123]

Fairly sure Sterling has been better on the left than the right. Mahrez is a better right winger than Sterling was. Sterling on the left is better/more productive than Sane was.

As they say "football is all about opinions".....

 

[jay_mcfc]

Fairly sure Sterling has been better on the left than the right. Mahrez is a better right winger than Sterling was. Sterling on the left is better/more productive than Sane was. So I’m happy with a Sterling/Mahrez rather than Sane/Sterling.

Sane was a very good option but he wasn’t happy and he wasn’t a starter so everyone moves on.
Shame he’s gone but I don’t blame anyone for it.

Mahrez has been quality all season and more consistent than Sane ever was. Granted hes a more mature player. But people need to rid themselves of early issues they had with him and realise he is one of our best players. Goes past players at ease, no one else in our team can do that

Laughable, really. Sane’s two full seasons = champions 198 points. No Sane this season and we’re 20 odd points behind. Just looking at player for player won’t help you, look at how having individual players on the pitch helps the team. Sane is light years ahead of Mahrez in that situation.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Look, the lad has won trophies with us over the past 4 years. Has he ever been a consistent starter? No. Have there been question marks about his attitude and work ethic? Yes, both with us and the National squad. Is he a quality player? On his day, undoubtedly. Will we miss him? Who knows. Do you trust Pep to have made the right decision? 100% yes. So from my perspective, it's thanks for the four years, your time has been and gone, good luck for the future but you're history now so be prepared for some good old fashioned booing banter when we play you in the Champions league next season. Although £385,000 a week will probably soften the blow for him. Auf wiedersehn.

Good post I agree with apart from the "booing banter". We are not dippers. Hopefully we won't boo him when he's a Bayern player.

 

[mosssideblue]

At least we now know what the attraction to make the move was - and can feel better about it. As for Sane - huge pressure to perform coming off the back of a serious injury !

Assumption. Could be several reasons why he wanted to leave

 

[mosssideblue]

I actually got my initial post wrong. Sane doesn’t even have to play well to make the whole team better. He just has to be on the pitch making those runs.

Ask any manager in the world who would they prefer to play against Mahrez or Sane, I’d be surprised if 5% of them would say Sane. Ask the same question to every full back in the world and it would be less.

Are you sure you have quoted correctly?.. Either way, today's Mahrez playing for us is better than Sane. No point in referring to a couple of seasons ago as that has long past

 

[Roachy]

Laughable, really. Sane’s two full seasons = champions 198 points. No Sane this season and we’re 20 odd points behind. Just looking at player for player won’t help you, look at how having individual players on the pitch helps the team. Sane is light years ahead of Mahrez in that situation.

Sane's absence isn't the reason we're 20 odd points behind. A contributing factor I agree, but nothing more than that. There's at least half a dozen more reasons for our league position.

 

[mosssideblue]

Laughable, really. Sane’s two full seasons = champions 198 points. No Sane this season and we’re 20 odd points behind. Just looking at player for player won’t help you, look at how having individual players on the pitch helps the team. Sane is light years ahead of Mahrez in that situation.

Just for clarity, are you saying we are so far behind Liverpool because of Sane not playing? If you are, that is laughable imo

 

[Tugay One Cup]

Fairly sure Sterling has been better on the left than the right. Mahrez is a better right winger than Sterling was. Sterling on the left is better/more productive than Sane was. So I’m happy with a Sterling/Mahrez rather than Sane/Sterling.

Sane was a very good option but he wasn’t happy and he wasn’t a starter so everyone moves on.
Shame he’s gone but I don’t blame anyone for it.

Mahrez has been quality all season and more consistent than Sane ever was. Granted hes a more mature player. But people need to rid themselves of early issues they had with him and realise he is one of our best players. Goes past players at ease, no one else in our team can do that

I can see where you're coming from and completely agree with your point on Mahrez at the end, he's been one of our best players this season. However, the point I'm making isn't one of individual quality.

The current partnership of Mahrez and Sterling just doesn't come close to that of the 17/18 partnership of Sterling and Sane. That's when our attack was at it's most potent. One part of your argument that I definitely can't agree on is that Sterling is better on the left. The consistency simply hasn't been there since he made that switch and I don't think it suits his style of play at all.

 

[Dogtanian]

Gutted but good luck to the fella

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Losing Leroy feels like being robbed of a favourite pair of 3 stripe trainers.

I'm just hoping he's not replaced by a naff pair of 4 stripes.

 

[jay_mcfc]

Just for clarity, are you saying we are so far behind Liverpool because of Sane not playing? If you are, that is laughable imo

Not the only reason but a huge contributing factor.

 

[jay_mcfc]

Are you sure you have quoted correctly?.. Either way, today's Mahrez playing for us is better than Sane. No point in referring to a couple of seasons ago as that has long past

Well of course he's playing better than someone who hasn't played. But Mahrez doesn't improve the team, certainly not to anywhere near the capabilities of Sane.