Manchester City were named Club of the Year at the 2022 Ballon d’Or and had the most nominations in various categories, but Pep Guardiola may feel one player slipped away that could have made his squad even better – Leroy Sane.
The 26-year-old left City to join Bayern Munich in 2020 and has gone on to make 105 appearances, scoring 34 goals with 32 assists. Sane is enjoying a better scoring rate in Germany (1 goal every 3 games) than England (1 goal every 3.5 games) and is outperforming all his successors at the Etihad Stadium.
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1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th or lower
Sane has netted five goals with two assists from 10 Bundesliga games this season, scoring more than Bernardo Silva (2), Riyad Mahrez (1) and Jack Grealish (1). The German international has created more than Mahrez (0) and Grealish (0) too, so he’s outperforming a duo that cost £160m.
Guardiola won’t be happy that two of his forwards have only contributed two goals between them while a former player flourishes away from City, especially considering he wanted to keep Sane in Manchester, but that’s the hand he’s been dealt.
The 26-year-old said of his move to Bayern that the offer was too good to turn down and he’s been vindicated in his decision with consecutive Bundesliga titles, but Sane is definitely the one that go away.
He had a hand in 16 goals from 32 league games in his debut season at Bayern and had a hand in 14 goals from 32 league games in the last campaign, so he’d have been a good asset at the Etihad.
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