Big criticism in Germany
Gündoğan defends Sané: “People don’t understand him”
June 20, 2026 – 6:33 p.mReading time: 1 min.
İlkay Gündoğan publicly defends his teammate Leroy Sané – and explains why the winger is so often misunderstood in Germany.
In a column for Der Spiegel, former DFB captain İlkay Gündoğan supported his national team colleagues Leroy Sane placed. The 35-year-old writes that Sané is misunderstood in Germany – and gives a personal reason for this.
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Both played together Manchester Citytoday they are running for Galatasaray Istanbul on. Gündoğan writes: “So I can say that I know him really well. And that’s why it affects me when I experience how critically he is often viewed in Germany.”
“Leroy has always been shy”
Gündoğan describes Sané as having a “top character” and explains: “That might sound paradoxical now, because sometimes he doesn’t come across like that. But Leroy was shy back then and remains so to this day. When he doesn’t know people that well, he is very cautious.” In Germany, Sané never got the recognition he deserved.
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Gündoğan also sees sporting consequences in this. Sané “often has the feeling that people are just waiting for him to do something wrong. I notice that he is not always as mentally free as he needs to be for his associative game.” Gündoğan continued: “If there is a constant fear that criticism will arise again after the first mistake in the game: How is Leroy supposed to function in the long term? Here we are all more required to support him more.”
In the national jersey, the winger is still waiting for his first goal after 13 tournament games.