Former Manchester City midfielder Trevor Sinclair believes that the club would not feel the effects of a potential Leroy Sane departure should the winger leave the Etihad Stadium this summer.
Sane has been linked with a move to Bayern Munich, with Sky Sports Germany claiming that a deal between the two clubs was close.
Having made just 30 starts for City in all competitions last season, Sane saw his opportunities become slightly limited after making 41 in the year before.
However, he did start in Sunday’s Community Shield victory – albeit for only 13 minutes.
But while talk of a homecoming for Sane persists, Sinclair seemed to suggest that the winger’s attitude since last season is something that the club could happily live without.
Speaking to TalkSPORT, he said: “The Leroy Sane rumours won’t go away and I don’t think it would be a big loss for the club if they did lose him.
“I watched him the whole of last season and he didn’t look that interested from the start. Everyone can have their opinion on him, but Pep [Guardiola] and his coaching staff watch him every day in training. It’s not just about the performances, it’s about the attitude.”
Sinclair’s comments seem to lack in sympathy for Sane, but his performances in terms of goals and assists certainly don’t look like being affected by any sort of attitude problem – especially if you consider his game time was restricted by Guardiola last season.
Let’s not forget that Sane had an exceptional 2017/18 campaign in which he had a hand in a total of 33 goals – but missed out on a World Cup place when being omitted from the Germany squad.
Though despite finding himself relatively out of favour last year, Sane actually improved that tally by one – but in almost 1,000 fewer minutes of playing time, outperforming teammates such as Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva in that regard.
So perhaps Sinclair would need to think again before assessing the effect that Sane truly has on this City team.
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