Following reports of an impasse being reached in the potential transfer of Leroy Sane to Bayern Munich, Manchester City have rejected a £70.7m offer from the Bundesliga Champions, according to reports in The Guardian.
Bayern, with the departures of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry, are keen to add the 23-year-old to their squad, having won a domestic double despite crashing out to Liverpool in the last-16 of the Champions League.
Last week the Bayern Munich chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, confirmed that Bayern were hoping to sign Sané. “We will try. I can not promise whether it will succeed,” Rummenigge said. “We already had the idea when he was still with Schalke, but at that time we did not have a guaranteed regular place for him. Robben and Ribéry were top of the top three years ago.”
The £37m signing from Schalke, awarded Young PFA Player of the Year in 2018, played 1857 minutes in the Premier League during the 2018/19 campaign – down from 2415 in the previous season – owing to a combination of Pep Guardiola’s alternative selections and injury.
Earlier this week, Bayern President Uli Hoeness had commented on speculation regarding Sane, saying “I don’t have the exact numbers yet but the financial aspect will be critical. The whole package is difficult”.
The difficulties alluded to be Hoeness are now serious barriers to this deal progressing, with City’s stubbornness to retain Sane marking the start of a transfer saga that is likely to prominently feature throughout the 2019 summer window.
Bayern are likely to increase their opening offer of £70.7m, but City’s financial position is likely to enable the club to reject any offer for the German international if they truly desire to retain his services at the Etihad.
