Why he regrets it
This bizarre tattoo adorns Leroy Sané
Updated 11/18/2025 – 11:09 amReading time: 2 minutes
“Even a beautiful back can be delightful,” thought Leroy Sané and got a huge tattoo there. What can be seen and why he would do it differently today.
It’s not just professional footballers who commit one or two sins at a young age. Sometimes a larger one, sometimes a smaller one. The first applies to DFB star Leroy Sané. Because: When he was 21, he did something that he regrets today. He got a huge tattoo. All over his back. You can see: himself in a cheering pose.
An action that he would not do again in retrospect, as he once told in an interview with “Spiegel”: “As I said, I was young. Today I would make a different decision. I was someone who had to run against the wall, especially at a young age, even if it hurt, in order to learn from it.”
The body paint was created in 2017 when Sané was still playing for Manchester City. He chose his goal celebration in the Champions League round of 16 game against AS Monaco in the 2016/17 season, which the “Citizens” won 5-3, as the motif for his back artwork. It was his first goal in the premier class for the English team. Bitter: Sané and his team lost the second leg 3-1 in the Principality and were eliminated.
In a first version, the jersey was decorated with the Manchester City coat of arms. A short time later it was painted over by a dark breast ring. Did it occur to him that he might not spend his entire footballing life with Manchester? It can be called wise foresight. The offensive man played for FC Bayern from 2020 to 2025 before moving to Galatasaray in the Turkish Süp Lig in the summer.
The tattoo artist needed a total of four days to complete the work. In addition to a large clock with Roman numerals on the left shoulder blade, the number sequence 44866 is also part of the tattoo. This is the postal code of Bochum-Wattenscheid, the town where the national player grew up. The outlines of his parents’ home countries can also be seen on his lower back: Senegal and Germany. A gate to heaven is painted in between, which is supposed to symbolize his faith.
A painting that will always accompany him, even if Sané now regrets it.