At the end, Bayern coach speaks last sentence about Sané - it says so much

At the final press conference before Bayern's Club World Cup round of 16 match against Flamengo Rio de Janeiro, a reporter cheekily asked Vincent Kompany about his emotional state: What emotions were being unleashed in him, the coach, by Leroy Sané's very last training session and possibly his very last competitive game at FC Bayern? Kompany looked briefly puzzled. Then he made a surprising confession.

"I haven't thought about it all day," he admitted. And then: "If you ask me, I remember him sitting alone on the training ground for a long time today."

I understood his statement to mean that the pain of parting is pretty one-sided. Bayern won't miss their mercurial winger. I won't shed a tear for him either.

For months, Bayern had been holding out the prospect of a contract extension. Naturally, at a reduced salary, because Sané rarely saw value for money. For a salary in the double-digit millions, he scored 40 goals in 152 games during his five years at FC Bayern. That's simply too little for someone with undeniably great talent.

When Bayern Munich wanted to pay Leroy Sané based on his performance, he fled to Galatasaray with the help of the notorious agent Pini "Piranha" Zahavi, and in Istanbul, they threw money at him. Mario Basler is right about this: This is a well-paid descent into obscurity. A footballer who does something like this in his prime (29) is saying goodbye to all ambition.

The rules for the Club World Cup were as follows: Leroy Sané will remain with Bayern until his contract officially ends on June 30th, and then start at Galatasaray on July 1st, right in the middle of the tournament. It's easy to deduce some fundamentals from this part-time model: Sané is starting something new and well-paid before his old one is properly wrapped up. That's just the way he is.

For me, it was the sad conclusion of a misunderstanding. I can still remember when Sané landed in Munich. I happened to be at an interview at Säbener Straße and witnessed the excitement surrounding his signing. People thought: The Messiah is coming. Immediately, jerseys bearing his name sold by the ton.

But when Leroy Sané arrived in 2020, Bayern did not provide a satisfactory answer to the question: Why did coach Pep Guardiola let him leave Manchester City?

The winger fit perfectly into the team's fast-paced Premier League football, was technically skilled and had cost 52 million euros in transfer fees (to Schalke 04) four years earlier.

Somehow, the question didn't arise because Bayern were simply happy to have acquired the highly talented player at a discount (reportedly for €49 million) and triggered a Sané boom in Munich. People liked him: Sané was young and fast, modern and stylish—the promise of a great future.

Five years later, Sané flew around the world (in this case, to Monaco) just days before the final Bundesliga game and didn't even inform his employer that he was spending his free time in the air. This despite being in the middle of talks about a contract extension at the time.

He was indifferent to the public image and even had his photo taken at Thilo Kehrer's charity event. His coach, Kompany – someone who always protects his players – was confronted with the news of the Monaco trip at the press conference and couldn't offer any enlightening comment. He stood there, embarrassed .

Was he worth his money at Bayern? His stats at Bayern can be described as mediocre. At the very least, he was never as influential as Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben before him, who occupied the wide positions and decided battles. Sané never rose above the status of a follower. He was there, did his thing, and that was it.

The national team knows him no differently. At tournaments, most recently at the 2024 European Championships at home, they waited game after game for Sané to break the deadlock and amaze the world. This even irritated Andreas Möller , who should really understand Sané. You never got the feeling that Sané thinks: "None of this has anything to do with me." And that's how he plays.