In a recent interview with Sport Bild, new Bayern Munich signee Leroy Sané revealed that he hopes David Alaba will stay at Bayern Munich. He also said, that despite refusing to sign a contract extension with Manchester City, his relationship with City boss and former Bayern manager Pep Guardiola is still good.
Alaba still has not signed a contract extension for Bayern, and recent reports have suggested he wants to be one of the highest paid players at Bayern alongside Robert Lewandowski and Manuel Neuer. If all the negotiations are positive, he has said he could see himself retiring at Bayern.
Sané definitely would like the Austrian international to stay: “I hope very much that David stays! I’d like to play together with him,” he said. “He’s a good guy, a super footballer, and we like each other personally, too. David has proven that he is not only one of the best left-backs in the world, but also is extraordinary in the center.”
Of course, Sané has gotten a taste of playing against Alaba from his days with Schalke in the Bundesliga, but now he has the chance to play in the same side as him. With Alaba’s precision passing ability out of the back, having a pacey winger like Sané running on to balls played in from Alaba is a savory prospect.
Since Sané was first linked with a move to Bayern, rumors have been floating around that he had a falling out with Guardiola. Some rumors claimed that he was unhappy with a lack of playing time, and he didn’t want to be involved in the Community Shield match last summer against Liverpool when he injured his knee, but Sané says that his relationship with Pep is still solid, all things considered.
“Our relationship is good,” Sané said. “There was never any moment where one was tired of the other.” It wasn’t easy for him to resist Guardiola and City, “but now I had it in my head that I wanted to do something new.”
Sané does not hold Guardiola or City responsible for his knee injury: “It wasn’t the case that I thought, ‘I can’t play today, because an injury can stop a transfer!’” Sané told Sport Bild. “Things were nowhere near that far along yet.”
When the injury happened, Sané said, “In all honestly, at that moment I was more concerned about my knee than the transfer. I had never had problems with my knee before, so it was a shock.”
“Unfortunately, the injury proved to be very drawn-out.”