CITY SPECIAL
DROPPING him from the City squad represented the most extreme example of Pep Guardiola’s plan to spark a reaction from Leroy Sane.
He started just five league games in his first five months at the club as the Blues manager waited for the talented youngster to show his worth to team-mates.
In 2017, there was just one start in the opening six games after failing to impress in pre-season.
And this year, a surprisingly barbed comment from Guardiola on the summer tour - the first sign of another issue - has been followed by Sane being taken off at half-time in the Community Shield, benched for the first three league games, and excluded from the matchday squad altogether for the fourth.
The tactic is clear and the public challenges do not just come when the German is out of form. A month after he had deservedly won the PFA Young Player award, Guardiola went on Monday Night Football to say of him and Raheem Sterling: “They can do better. I have that feeling.
“If I didn’t believe it I wouldn’t say, but I think they can in simple things, the dribbling, first control, how you receive the ball and take decisions.
“It’s training in smaller spaces and focusing on control, because that is the reality that is going to happen.”
Given City have been here before a few times with Sane, there is absolutely no need to panic and he is still expected to play an important part in the season.
Equally though, he won’t be back in the team until he improves and the fact that this isn’t a first offence increases the doubt over the long-term compatibility of player and manager.
Guardiola - a man for minor details warned around the same time that he would be tougher on anyone that he thought was slacking after his experiences with championship-winning sides at Barcelona and Bayern Munich and the club hierarchy would be remiss if they weren’t considering every possibility. The Blues, whose ability to fend off interest in their best players has been shown in contract extensions for Ederson, Kevin de Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus this year, would expect to receive a large sum if the situation worsened to the extent Sane was made available for transfer and it could be argued that such a talented squad can survive losing one of its assets. Until Raheem Sterling signs on for a new deal, the prospect of losing two of the three players dubbed the future of the club by Guardiola is not worth contemplating. However transparent a move news of Real Madrid’s interest in the England forward may be, the fact remains City are made more vulnerable with every good performance that is not followed by a signature. And while the club will hope both situations are sorted as soon as possible, the longer Sterling doesn’t commit his future to the club the more attention that must be paid to keep Sane happy in Manchester.