Sané has scored eleven goals in his 43 international matches so far, which is a good rate for a winger. Five templates are a bit flimsy though. At FC Bayern there were seven assists and seven goals in 32 games in the past Bundesliga season.
Very good phase under Nagelsmann
He had a very good phase under coach Julian Nagelsmann for many months, but the last impression remains. In the last third of the season the form curve went down steeply, with all the symptoms that also appeared in Bologna, cue “body language”.
At the beginning of March, when the drop in performance had already started, Sané said in an interview with “Sport-Bild”: “I feel very involved in the game. Everything has developed really well.”
Princely contract and high expectations
High, low, high, low – this is a normal development of a footballer. Sané is now 26 years old, he even played at the highest level with his club at Schalke, especially in the years at Manchester City from 2016 to 2020 and since then at Bayern.
The German record champions signed him despite a cruciate ligament rupture suffered at City last year and gave him a princely contract at the beginning of the pandemic. That raises expectations.
Parallels to Ozil
But with Sané, it’s more the extraordinary qualities that make him more critical than others. Sané is the new Mesut Özil, especially under the keyword “body language”.
On a good day, both are players who make a team better with their dribbling, their pace and their ease. “Leroy can be a difference player“Flick also emphasized. On bad days, like Sané’s example in the last game against Italy, they drive coaches, teammates and fans to despair.