Leroy Sane: Pep Guardiola took me to a new level, but I had to leave Man City for Bayern Munich

Leroy Sane’s phone kept buzzing and it was the same source: Joshua Kimmich.

Bayern Munich’s defensive midfielder displayed the kind of tenacity associated with him on the pitch in encouraging Sane to swap Manchester City for the Allianz Arena. On 3 July, that outcome – a long eventuality – was confirmed in a deal worth £55m.

Sane returns to the Bundesliga armed with “my own targets” after leaving Schalke in 2016 for City. “I want to achieve my own goals,” the 24-year-old said.

Since then, he has been showered in champagne and confetti celebrating two Premier League titles, one FA Cup and two League Cups, with the Champions League the only prize that evaded him while in England.

He had the option to remain under Pep Guardiola’s tutelage until the end of the campaign with the club sensing this could be their season for European glory. City have a 2-1 advantage over Real Madrid with the home leg of their last-16 tie to come, and having shaken off a 10-month spell on the sidelines due to knee ligament damage, there was the chance to crown his stay in historic fashion.

The consideration was a fairytale ending versus a purely football calculation. It was a question of timing and he answered by prioritising his adjustment period at Bayern.

With the final rounds of the Champions League hosted in Lisbon between 12-23 August and the new Bundesliga season earmarked for 18 September, Sane knew he could not have both potentially the best end at City and the best start at Bayern.

“I thought about it, obviously, and City have the option to win the Champions League,” he says. “But I made this decision and I’m totally fine with it. If City win it, then I’m happy for the club and for all my friends there but this was the way I went. If it really happens [and City win], I don’t think I will suffer with it a lot because I made the decision and nobody else.

“It was hard to say no to the Champions League. For everyone it is a dream to play in that competition. But it made more sense just to come here, to settle in, find a new home and to prepare really good for the next season. Everyone knows how difficult this season was for me.

“I have more time to settle in, to focus on the new team, to work with them and prepare myself really well for the next season. If I had stayed until after August then it would have been harder for me. I can say I am really happy with my knee and how it healed up. I have no problems really anymore and I will just try to prepare really well, as best as I can for the first game and at the end we will see if it was enough or not.”

Sane speaks with great maturity and, it becomes evident, with no regrets. He reflects on his time at City fondly and is clearly appreciative of how Guardiola elevated his talents, and put him on the precipice of world-class status.

“Playing for Pep and working with him and playing for the team that I was playing with, I mean, they were amazing people,” he says. “Everyone knows how Pep works, how he is improving players and I think I played with fantastic players from whom I also learnt a lot from.

“Obviously we won a lot in these four years but Bayern Munich also won a lot! I just had a personal feeling for myself. It was not anything about Man City or anything else – if because we’d now won everything or I’d now lost the hunger or anything [like that]. It was just me personally. I just had a feeling and that’s why I came to this decision.”

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Guardiola is well versed with the magnetic pull of Bayern, having spent three successful years – sandwiched between his spells at Barcelona and City – with the German behemoths.

“On the last day when I said goodbye, he just wished me all the best and only had positive things to say about Bayern Munich,” Sane recalls. “He said it’s a great club, big club, awesome people are here who he also worked with. He said I would definitely like it here because everyone is really great as a person.

“I think he improved me a lot. When I came to Manchester City I was 19 and I had just had one full season where I had played here in Germany and there was a lot to improve and in every area. I can say I improved in every single area with him, doesn’t matter what it is – technically, the positional game, my whole game changed a lot because of the way he works and how he wants me to play. He brought me onto a completely different level.”

There is no doubting the pair clashed, more in approach than anything else. The uber-intense Guardiola always wanted more and Sane had not felt his attributes were appreciated enough, rebuffing several attempts from City to extend a deal that was entering its final 12 months.

He was exemplary in 2017-18, named the PFA’s Young Player of the Year and his overall numbers were staggering at City: 84 goal contributions in 135 games.

Mikel Arteta, who served as Guardiola’s assistant and is now Arsenal manager, was also crucial to Sane’s development. Arteta spent extra hours working to reassure the attacker and surgically advance every facet of his game. They would dissect videos together so Sane understood space better and how to manipulate it with greater purpose and intensity.

“I can just say positive things about Mikel Arteta,” Sane beams. “Since we started working together, he helped me a lot on the pitch. He tried to improve my football; he told me what I did good and what I did wrong, and he tried to work on it. Next to Pep, they both really helped me and improved me, to bring me to the next level.

“Even now, at Arsenal, for me you can see he’s doing a great job. You can see he has a concept, a way that he wants to play, a way that he wants his team to play, and obviously it will take some time until everybody really understands it. I think he will do a great job as a [head] coach too.”

Sane is typically unruffled, so at ease but emphasises: “It looks like I am relaxed but I am really excited to play again.”

Reading between the lines, he is determined to ultimately lift the Champions League with Bayern amid showcasing how much more refined of a footballer he has become.

“I was 19 when I moved to City. I won my first title there,” he reflects. “We just kept going on. I’m really pleased and happy that I came to a club like that at such a young age. As a team, we had good seasons where we were the favourites for the Champions League but we didn’t make it. It’s not like I say I regret that I didn’t win it there.

“I had good moments and good memories and there is nothing I can say I regret. I grew as a person and a player. I am thankful and grateful everything that I learned and all the people that I met were really nice. I can only wish them all the best.

“I will maybe see the players in the Champions League again! I played three seasons at City and the fourth I was injured. I just had a feeling that I needed something new and that is why I came at the end to this decision. I told them I wanted to move and this was the right decision. I was thinking about the whole package – not just about me but my family and everything else. That’s why the decision was made that I wanted to come to Munich.”

Sane has taken over Arjen Robben’s No 10 shirt, but to no surprise, there is more enthusiasm than apprehension. “He is a legend for this club and there is a lot of pressure with the number, but I take it more with joy. I think people will see how much I have improved and how hungry I am to achieve my goals and the goals of the whole team.”