Bayern Munich agreed to deal with Kevin De Bruyne before balking at transfer fee

Kevin De Bruyne nearly joined Bayern Munich last summer. He was so close to joining FC Bayern that the only thing separating the two sides was the transfer fee. You remember that big, exorbitant amount.

De Bruyne's agent Patrick De Koster spoke with Sport/Foot Magazine (translated by ESPN) and revealed that Bayern were definitely the front runners for De Bruyne's signature.

"For a long time Kevin's heart was beating for the Bundesliga where he broke through at Bremen before really excelling with Wolfsburg," De Koster said. "I think that if Bayern were able to pay the asking price, he would be there today."

That asking price ended up being the nearly €75 million transfer fee that Manchester City paid. De Koster continued and broke down exactly how close "De Bruyne to Bayern" really was to happening.

"With Bayern, I'm going to make this public for the first time, we reached an agreement after the second meeting. It's over the transfer fee that it collapsed. I think that Bayern were ready to go as far as €50m but not any higher."

Bayern's refusal to pay a player's over-inflated value is well known and the Bavarians usually stick to it regardless of the player. Unfortunately for De Bruyne, it means that he can't play in Munich.