Bastian Schweinsteiger full of praise for Bayern Munich’s Leroy Sane

Between both Julian Nagelsmann for Bayern Munich and Hansi Flick for the German National team. they’ve been able to get Leroy Sane back on track and firing on all cylinders for both club and country. Nagelsmann made the tactical decision earlier this season to play him on the left flank instead of the right, and the decision has proven to be worth its weight in gold. He’s scored four goals and has provided seven assists for Bayern from a total of 11 appearances across all competitions this season and in the last two international breaks for Die Mannschaft, he’s tallied two goals and an assist from those five World Cup qualifiers.

Sane’s defensive work rate has also intensified with his excellent run of form, as former Bayern and Germany legend Bastian Schweinsteiger pointed out while doing punditry work for ARD during the international break. He knows how much Sane was asked by both Nagelsmann and Flick to improve his defensive contributions. “They demanded, just like his teammates, that he also has to find his way back and perform defensively. And you saw that,” Schweinsteiger said (Fussball News).

Defensive hustle was on full display in the loss to Eintracht Frankfurt from Sane:

With Sane predominantly playing on the left side, it’s worked wonders for him personally, as well as Bayern as a collective. Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala, Kinglsey Coman, and even Thomas Muller, if needed, possess the ability to play on the right side, so Nagelsmann always has that flexibility without risking a dip in form for Sane. Why fix what isn’t currently broken, so to speak? The same goes for the setup of Die Mannschaft since Gnabry, Muller, and Musiala are regular callups for the German camps. This is where the communication and sharing of ideas between Nagelsmann and Flick has come in so handy.

While Sane’s impressive spike in form and significantly improved defensive work rate is nice for both Bayern and Germany, Schweinsteiger stressed that it is something that he has to constantly show. He’s been on this decent run of form for a little over a month now, but he really have to work to maintain these levels, Schweinsteiger feels. “But he has to show it, this body language, this commitment. He’s got into the rhythm and helps both teams a lot,” he said.