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Today on the transfer saga that just refuses to end: according to a report by Bild (paywalled), the Leroy Sane transfer to Bayern Munich, which looked like a done deal not too long ago, is once again in doubt due to the injury the the winger suffered in Manchester City’s win over Liverpool in the FA Community Shield.
According to the report, the diagnosis of Sane’s injury has been delayed on account of free fluid in the player’s knee. Now here’s the crazy bit: Bild spotted Bayern physician Dr. Peter Ueblacker describing an injury to the right knee to sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic. The doctor was photographed literally grabbing Brazzo’s knee and described the injury in rich detail. Brazzo’s was reportedly stony-faced afterwards.
It gets better. After the impromptu anatomy lecture, Brazzo withdrew from the training area — away from fans, players, and journalists — in order to make a phone call. Upon spotting Bild’s reporter (presumably hiding in the bushes, because why not?) Brazzo greeted him but turned away to continue his call.
Bild’s conclusion: THE SANE DEAL IS IN DANGER. To prove that this is 110% true and not sensationalist journalism, they even provided a picture of the doctor touching Brazzo’s right knee.
Leroy Sané still has fluid in his knee which delayed a precise diagnosis and made it difficult. Bayern's team Dr Peter Ueblacker was spotted explaining the injury to Hasan Salihamidžić yesterday. At Bayern, there are fears the deal that looked done might still collapse [Bild] pic.twitter.com/BGfV0EqeT8
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) August 7, 2019
Clearly that one still image tells us all we need to know!
In addition, Sport1 journalist Florian Plettenberg claims that if Sane is seriously injured, the deal would be called off, because Bayern need a player who can help the team immediately.
Sollte sich #Sané tatsächlich schwerer verletzt haben (und dadurch möglicherw. „günstiger“ werden) ist ein Transfer nach unseren Infos unwahrscheinlich. Grund: Der Neuzugang soll sofort helfen.
— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) August 7, 2019
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Zum Stand im Sané-Poker @SPORT1
.https://t.co/jXzBAJ7ov3 pic.twitter.com/6zbgWU9hEW
Plettenberg also discounts the possibility that an injury might make the player cheaper for the Bavarians.
That’s all we have for now, but it seems incredibly unlikely that a transfer this big would be called off because of a last-minute injury. Bayern just got done buying Lucas Hernandez for a club-record fee while he was sidelined with a serious knee injury — there’s no reason the Sané deal should fall through either.
In the end, this reads like a bit of sensationalist journalism from a publication that has proven that it’s not above doing so in the past, and there’s no reason to take it too seriously (yet).