Pep is key to Sane’s success
LEROY SANE admits Pep Guardiola had to “unlock” him as he struggled to come out of his shell following his £37million move from Schalke last year.
The Manchester City boss has been repaid with a different Sane in the second half of the season and the 21-year-old is one of his most potent attacking threats going into today’s semi-final against Arsenal.
“At the start, when I played against bigger clubs, I thought they were better than me and I was a bit scared,” he says.
“I was with a new team in a new country and didn’t know anything about the League.
“But the week we played Arsenal in December, Pep told me, ‘Play how you played at Schalke because you were free there’ and I scored my first goal.”
Guardiola’s association with Sane’s childhood idol, Lionel Messi, has also been a key factor in the young German’s progress.
“Sometimes he is able to help me with things because he knows how Messi plays and how he trains,” says Sane.
“He says, ‘Try to do it like Messi does.’”
Sane comes from a sporting family. His father, Souleyman, won 55 caps for Senegal and could sprint 100m in 10.7 secs.
His mother, Regina, was a bronze-medal-winning German Olympic gymnast.
“It was a normal family,” he says. “My parents knew what I had to eat and how to prepare training sessions, and what behaviour was needed in order to be serious about my football, but they weren’t pushy.
“If I wanted to McDonald’s, it was OK!”
Today Sane will be up against one of his best friends, Mesut Ozil, whom he credits with helping him settle in England.
“Mesut tells me that if I need help I should always ask him,” he says. “He’s older than me, at 27, but it’s good to have older friends.
“We went to California last summer after the European Championships, we talk regularly and I meet him in London every couple of weeks.”
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