BillyShears
Well-Known Member
I just don’t believe for one second we intend keeping him around, taking into account his cruciate injury I think we will just want to draw a line under it and move on. We’d look fucking stupid if we held out and then he breaks down with a recurrence of said injury and leaves for free. I also don’t see Pep as a manager that likes playing a player who is not wanting to stick around.
He won't play. That's almost certain. I think the problem is that the bad blood between Bayern and City runs deep. It seems to be really personal. People forget, that whilst Sane was wandering around pre season last season 'saying his goodbyes', Bayern had yet to even get in touch with City. They literally moved with a week left in the window. That's an entirely unacceptable way to move with a transfer that big.
Part of me thinks that they were always about laying the ground work for this summer and never had any real intention of doing it back then. But then that also feeds into this idea, that City are looking at them and going "fuck yourselves" now. Because we are not desperate for money despite the CAS ban hanging over our head. I just think the organisation is so big that they can absolutely let him run his contract down. Let's not forget that Silva has done that, Vinny left on a free, Kun will leave on a free. Yaya too. Ultimately we're a club that prefer to keep our better players as long as possible.
Of course there's the human element, but again, sounds like nobody is going to shed any tears for Leroy at the Etihad campus. If he stays he'll be a young player training with the squad, that's it. Also, don't forget that Tevez was a bad smell for 18 months but the club didn't let him go until THEY wanted to. I've said this earlier in this thread but don't underestimate the attitude of the owners when they feel they're being disrespected. We've heard it before, but where they come from you respect your contracts. They'll have little problem in benching Leroy for another year, especially if we win at CAS.
Having said all of that. I think you're probably right. Bayern will end up paying close to what we want.