Leroy Sane: Manchester City’s German magician who dribbled his way to stardom

Last night, at the PFA awards ceremony at Grosvenor House Hotel in London, Manchester City’s 22 year-old winger, Leroy Sane, was crowned PFA Young Player of the Year for the 2017/18 season.

A prestigious accolade indeed, though one that tells merely a fraction of the story as to the sheer impact this German sensation has made in his second season of Premier League football.

Arriving at the Etihad in August 2016, for a reported fee of £37m from Schalke, there was inevitable expectation and excitement towards a player who had scored 11 goals in his first 47 professional games for the German outfit. Thrust into the Guardiola’s midfield selection pot with the likes of Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, David Silva, Ilkay Gundogdan and Kevin De Bruyne, competition for places was rife, and from a perspective of comparison, Sane was no doubt the most inexperienced player from whom Guardiola could select his starting choices.

Sane proceeded to remain on the bench for City’s first five Premier League fixtures, making merely cameo appearances though impactful ones at that, such as a brace against Liverpool, though to his manager, he did not presently merit a starting berth. In City’s sixth Premier League fixture, a 5-0 drubbing of Crystal Palace at home, Sane rose to the starting line-up and repaid his manager’s faith in audacious fashion, scoring one goal and registering two assists. The German prodigy was seemingly an undroppable option for Guardiola, and the Spaniard acknowledged this with immediacy, with Sane starting 15 of City’s next 18 Premier League games, scoring four goals and registering six assists in the process.

During that time, City had shot to the summit of the Premier League, and Sane was receiving justifiable praise in quantity. For a 22-year old in the infancy of his professional career, it would be fair to say there are few players of that age who possess the same raw talent of Sane. For a player of slight build, the German holds unparalleled ability with his dribbling, pace and sheer class in beating players with the ball at his feet. For £37m in a market where Neymar is over six times that transfer fee, it would be far from untoward to suggest City have got a bargain on the boy from Schalke.

There have been many publicised admirers of Sane over the years, the likes of Thomas Tuchel, Borrusia Dortmund manager commenting “they [Schalke] have lethal wingers who can dribble. Leroy Sane is one of them”, as well as his national team coach, Joachim Low, stating that “He is a player with a special gift and finesse, speed paired with technique and strong running. He can make the jump with us very quickly”.

Sane has long been lavished with praise from the very top, yet Sunday night’s award at the Grosvenor House Hotel was accreditation of a different nature – the German was now performing, in the eyes of his peers, at the very highest level in the Premier League, notoriously the most difficult league in the world.

At merely 22 years of age, and with a few dribbles left in him yet, this is simply the start for Leroy Sane in his Manchester City career. Though perhaps similarly to the club and the Citizens as they embark on an era of potential dominance in English football, this is a player with indisputable talent and raw ability. As a club, Guardiola’s side are equipped to write history, though amidst the hype and the promise, the PFA recognition and the domestic doubles, alongside a transfer budget that is seemingly bottomless, there remains one element of unparalleled fear, perhaps the most terrifying part of it all.

Sane and City are just getting started.

Written by Tom Newman.