Manchester City have insisted they have yet to receive an offer for Leroy Sané from Bayern Munich and are prepared to allow the Germany international to enter the final year of his contract.
Sané – who was close to making his return from a knee ligament injury before the coronavirus pandemic – signed a five-year deal at the Etihad Stadium in 2016 when he joined from Schalke for £37m (€42m) but has yet to agree terms on a new contract.
The former Bayern manager Niko Kovac was forced to apologise in July after suggesting he was confident the German champions would complete the signing of the 24-year-old forward last summer, with Sané subsequently sustaining his injury in the Community Shield against Liverpool a few days later.
Sané switched agents in February to Damir Smoljan and Fali Ramadani’s Lian Sports and a report in the German newspaper Bild on Tuesday suggested that he had agreed terms on a five-year contract with Bayern, subject to a bid of €40m being accepted.
However, it is understood that City have not received any offer for Sané and consider the amount quoted as a derisory figure for a player who won the PFA Young Player of the Year award in 2017-18. Bayern were quoted a fee of more than €120m last summer and it is believed that it would take a significant figure to persuade City to allow Sané to leave.
Even with players who enter the final year of their contracts able to discuss joining a club from overseas in January, City are understood to be willing to take that risk with Sané given the number of other options in Pep Guardiola’s squad. – Guardian
