Bayern Munich decided against signing Leroy Sané out from under Manchester City

The long-winded Leroy Sané transfer saga came to an end when Manchester City threw roughly €55 million toward Gelsenkirchen to secure the transfer. While several clubs, including Bayern Munich, were interested in signing Sané, it was City who were willing to pay the silly transfer fee for him.

Bayern were continuously rumored to be interested in Sané except for one problem. They wanted to wait until the summer of 2017 when his buyout clause of only €35 million would be in play. They didn’t want to get involved in a feckless spending battle.

Schalke sporting director Christian Heidel confirmed as much in an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung. Heidel states that Schalke were well aware that Sané planned to leave the club, so they decided to cash in on him while they had the chance.

This begs the question as to what Bayern’s plan with Sané was?

We know that Bayern have yet to announce contract extensions for either Franck Ribery or Arjen Robben, and the club has also not pulled the trigger on Kingsley Coman’s purchase option. Was the plan to allow Robben or Ribery to ride off into the sunset and bring Sané in to replace one of them?