Report: Manchester City’s Leroy Sané made up his mind weeks ago to turn down Bayern Munich

According to a report by SZ, Manchester City star Leroy Sané made it known several weeks ago that he was not seriously considering Bayern Munich. Worse, all of the hullabaloo from this past weekend where Sané allegedly leaked to friends that he would not be moving on, should have not even really been “breaking news.”

Essentially, Bayern fans following this transfer saga have been holding on to hope that really should not have been there over the past month.

FC Bayern would be prepared to pay a high transfer fee for Leroy Sané. But the wingman from Manchester City apparently prefers to stay in the Premier League. According to SZ information, he had hinted at this a few weeks ago. On the weekend, several media (outlets) reported that Sané did not want to move to Munich. According to SZ information, the 23-year-old had already said several weeks ago that he would rather not go to FC Bayern.

SZ indicated that Bayern officials likely knew this was an extreme long-shot going as far back as the DFB-Pokal finale. Moreover, Bayern’s brass let it be known over three weeks ago that the club was skeptical of Sané’s true intentions despite the rampant speculation.

Shortly before the cup final at the end of May, (Bayern president Uli) Hoeneß had publicly confirmed that the club was working on Sané, but even then he had pointed out that it would be difficult to complete the transfer. Since then, President Hoeneß and CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge have repeatedly been cautious about whether the entire package could be financed at all. Hoeneß had already told the table soccer team at the beginning of June: “You have to be a little skeptical. It’s rather unlikely that it will work, it’s about amounts that are madness.” Last week Rummenigge first hinted in Sport Bild that a lack of interest on the part of Sané could also lead to failure: “A transfer is always a three-party business. First the player has to decide where he sees his future.”

If there is a silver-lining to take away from the situation, it is that this failed effort was really no fault of Bayern Munich. Instead, it has to do with the fact that Sané simply does not — and maybe never really did — want to make a move to Bayern Munich.

Uli Hoeneß left one last back door open in his bid for Leroy Sané. “If he wants to, it’ll work,” the president of FC Bayern said about the German national player on the sidelines of the basketball title celebration on Sunday. The amount of the transfer fee, which should be in the high eight-digit range, is therefore the smaller problem. The bigger problem is the attitude of the wingman from Manchester City.

Simply put — at least per SZ — it is time to move on for Bayern fans expecting a late miracle.