Man City will demand £145m for Leroy Sane as Bayern Munich transfer saga continues
BAYERN MUNICH will have to pay out up to £145MILLION to land Leroy Sane this month.
The German side’s pursuit of the Manchester City winger, 23, has become increasingly fractious in recent days.
The English side have written an angry letter of complaint to Bayern over their public courting of the winger.
That has resulted in a series of apologies from Karl Heinz Rummenigge and other members of the Allianz Arena top brass.
Yet City are in no mood to back down – and will only sell if Sane declares he wants to leave – and Bayern make an enormous offer.
And that would entail a bid somewhere in the region of City’s valuation of £135-£145 million – putting him in the top three of the most expensive transfers ever.
Reports in his Germany claim the wide man has made up his mind to return to his homeland – although this was denied by Bayern last night.
And City have heard nothing from the Schalke winger about wanting to leave – despite the fact he has refused to sign his new contract over the last year.
They will use the recent mega deals involving Joao Felix and Ousmane Dembele as a yardstick.
SAILING CLOSE TO THE WIND
Felix joined Atletico Madrid in this window for around £113 million and does not have the experience that City’s German international flier has.
Meanwhile Dembele’s switch to Barcelona in summer 2017 could ultimately be worth more than £135 million to Borussia Dortmund.
Only a handful of players – such Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Philippe Coutinho have gone for bigger fees than those.
Those would be the kind of eye-watering figures that Bayern will have to reach if they are to stand a chance of landing Sane.
City believe they are in control of the situation as the man they signed for £37 million in summer 2016 still has two years to run on his existing deal.
Sources at the Etihad believe Bayern have sailed dangerously close to the wind with their tactics in trying to lure Sane through the media.
There is also a suspicion they have spoken to the player already – which could be construed as a tapping up.
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Yet if Sane wants to leave and the German champions meet the asking price, there could be a deal done this month.
If he does go, Pep Guardiola would resist the urge to replace Sane by buying another left sided player before the Premier League window shuts next week.
Meanwhile, the champions are still exploring the possibility of signing Juventus full-back Joao Cancelo.