Willy Sagnol not entirely sold on Leroy Sane, doesn’t think move to Bayern Munich would be good

The Leroy Sane to Bayern Munich saga is never ending. The rumors surrounding this potential transfer for the past 18 months have taken just about every imaginable twist and turn along the way, but a large majority of Bayern fans still want a deal with Manchester City to be agreed upon to acquire the midfielder. Not everyone is completely sold on the 24-year old, though.

In a recent interview with French outlet RMC (via Goal), former Bayern player and interim manager Willy Sagnol warned his former club of problems that could arise if Sane winds up joining from Manchester City. He’s concerned that the German international does not have the right character to be a Bayern player who represents Bayern values: “He doesn’t correspond at all to Bayern in terms of his character. He’s someone whose form is very inconsistent and who is very withdrawn. For me, he doesn’t suit the club at all. He’s had a lot of problems at Manchester City and with the national team.”

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Of course, Sagnol’s comments aren’t completely unwarranted. Sane has had some attitude problems under City manager Pep Guardiola, but his injury history hasn’t made anything any easier for the winger. It was suggested that Sane’s representatives had asked Guardiola not to involve him in the Community Shield match against Liverpool last August when he suffered his cruciate ligament injury just seven minutes in, which severely compromised his transfer to Bayern at the time.

Sagnol even went as far as recommending Bayern sign Bayer Leverkusen’s Kai Havertz instead, a player that former Bayern president Uli Hoeness just recently said he would love to see at Bayern, but doesn’t think it’s feasible right now: “We’re talking about a cost of €80 million (£72m/$89m). In that case, I would prefer to put another €20m down and sign Kai Havertz.”

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Sane’s fee could well be reduced when Bayern goes back to the negotiating table, but there a lot of complex moving parts, especially with Manchester City’s future in European competitions in question. It remains to be seen what’s going to happen with their appeal to UEFA for their Financial Fair Play violations, but Sagnol still feels that considerable wages would be better spent on a player like Havertz.