Leroy Sané to undergo surgery in Innsbruck — what does that mean?

As reported by Bild and Sky Sport Germany earlier today, Manchester City’s Leroy Sané is undergoing surgery in Innsbruck this weekend to repair his damaged ACL.

The transfer of the German international to Bayern Munich almost happened earlier this month, which would’ve brought a months-long saga to an end. However, it all broke down once Sané hurt the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on August 4th.

According to a rumor on Tuesday, Sané was in Innsbruck that day. Although the original tweet has since been deleted, today’s reports confirmed that it was true.

Sané took a private jet from Manchester to Innsbruck in order to get examined by Dr. Christian Fink. Dr. Fink works for the German national team, so it would make sense that he would operate on Sané. It is also worth noting that he has worked with Bayern players in the past, having recently operated on Lucas Hernandez and Corentin Tolisso. He’s also favored by Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, Bayern’s team doctor. When prompted to comment on Sané’s surgery, Bayern declined.

Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images

Dr. Müller-Wohlfahrt and Pep Guardiola have some history between them, to say the least. They never saw eye to eye during Pep’s time at Bayern. Things got so bad that Dr. Müller-Wohlfahrt left Bayern in April 2015 after a 3-1 loss to Porto in the Champions League quarterfinal, when the medical staff received the blame for said loss.

With that in mind, one can’t be faulted for thinking that this decision would not go over too well with Pep. After all, he was confident last week that Sané would go to Barcelona to be examined and treated by Dr. Cugat. Nonetheless, Sané opted against that and went with Dr. Fink. According to City, this was a personal choice. The 23-year-old German international went with a doctor that has looked after his fellow teammates at the German national team. However, it makes one wonder why he’d make such a decision given that all his City teammates have been operated on by Dr. Cugat and most of them would recommend him as well.

When asked if Sané still intended on going to Barcelona to undergo surgery, Pep said “I can’t answer this question. I don’t know.”

This all adds to the uncertainty surrounding his future. This decision, in theory, takes away a huge source of leverage for City since Sané opted to go to a doctor that is trusted by Bayern as well as Dr. Müller-Wohlfahrt. Controlling his treatment and recovery is something that Bayern would want and if Sané had gone to Dr. Cugat, then that would not be the case. Thanks to his decision, however, Bayern may just have a little more leverage in the negotiations should they decide to go for it this summer.

But until Bayern’s decision on Sané comes, all anyone can really do is speculate.