Manchester City: Converting Leroy Sane to left back is a terrible idea

By Ben Kupiszewski | Apr 18, 2017

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 05: Leroy Sane of Manchester City (L) and Kurt Zouma of Chelsea (R) battle for possession during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on April 5, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) /

No, Michael Ballack. Leroy Sane playing left wing back for Manchester City doesn’t make a lot of sense.

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Generally, I’m receptive to a lot of what Michael Ballack says. But the ESPN analyst’s comments about Manchester City winger Leroy Sane playing left wing back are just asinine.

The Manchester Evening News reports the former German international and Chelsea midfielder foresees a switch to wing full back for Sane in the near future for City. I know, weird. MEN also neglects to provide a reason from Ballack for the proposed change in position.

If I had to stick together some argument for converting Sane to the position, I’d probably note that Pablo Zabaleta, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna and Aleksandar Kolarov aren’t very good at full back. So might as well put a winger there — what does Pep Guardiola have to lose!

Um, no. It’s just estupido. Moving an attacking-minded player there just doesn’t make him a crack defender. It would take time for a young player like Sane to learn the new role. For example, when to push forward into the attack or when not to. And that’s nothing to say about the chemistry and positioning he has to pick up and coordinate with the other members of the back line.

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I know people like Ballack might point to the year Victor Moses has had at Chelsea, who Antonio Conte moved to wing back. DaMarcus Beasley under former United States National Team manager Jurgen Klinsmann is another recent example of a successful conversion of a winger to a defensive role.

However, both Beasley and Moses are experienced veterans whose pace and attacking prowess had diminished with age. Trying them out on the defensive flank was worth the try under those circumstances. By the looks of it, the 21-year-old Sane has a lot of dynamic attacking football ahead of him.

Sane also doesn’t want to play wing back either. MEN records him balking at the notion:

“That’s not my favourite position! I don’t like it really, as I have played all of my career in attack and I am happy to play there,” he said.

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See? He has no desire or familiarity with the nuances of defensive football.

Not to mention, he is a potent attacker and making real strides under Guardiola. According to MEN, Sane’s notched eight goals in his last 17 appearances. Hence, to remove him from his niche not only hurts City defensively but offensively too.

Just a poorly thought out idea all-around.