When Manchester City purchased Leroy Sane on the advice of Pep Guardiola it is fair to say most fans did not have a clue what they were getting.
Sane joined City back in August 2016 and in the 2 and a half years he has been with us he has developed into being one of the most exciting young attackers in the world. The 50 million euros which City invested in Sane now looks a snip with the player probably worth 3 times that in the current transfer market. But that is not to say we want him to move on – in fact we are all getting quite anxious that his current contract expires in August 2021!
Sane has a rare burst of speed and seems to get faster with each passing yard. There would appear to be few players capable of keeping up with him in any kind of flat race. Sane utilises this pace to create attacks and also to get back to cover and thwart the opposition. We frequently see him scampering back to break up a counter attack.
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Coupled with his pace, Sane has some fantastic close control skills. Once he has the ball within his sights he is able to keep it at speed. He can use his long limbs to retrieve a ball from the byline and bamboozle defenders. He has the confidence to try these moves in the tightest of spaces which frequently build goals for our side.
In addition to his pace and skill he has an almost balletic ability to glide through challenges. This is especially unusual given he is quite tall – you tend to find the shorter players with a low centre of gravity are most nimble but Sane tends to buck this trend.
It is this combination of attributes which has delivered some impressive statistics for City so far this season. Across all competitions Sane has played 32 games, scoring 12 times and providing an impressive 14 assists. So Sane has a total of 26 goal involvements in just 32 appearances! That is a record which is stunning for any player, let alone a 23 year old winger.
This week will see Manchester City play at Schalke in the Champions League and this game will hold special importance for Sane. Schalke is the Club where his he and his brother have played and it is from where he made the leap to Manchester City. Given Sane’s current level of performance I hope he will get the chance to show the Schalke fans exactly how much he has improved.