LEROY SANÉ
In this era of Instagram, many a young footballer has dipped a heavily-insured toe into the world of fashion. Some get it right. Some get it very wrong. The idea that ‘style’ is an ephemeral, unexplainable concept which can’t be bought is anathema to these players. They think that whacking down the Coutts gold in Manchester’s Selfridges can buy them aesthetic immortality. It can’t, and it doesn’t.
Cristiano Ronaldo might look cool when he’s scoring bicycle kicks in the Champions League, but when walking around Turin he resembles a mixologist at a Black Sea resort nightclub. Zlatan’s a one-name brand nonetheless prone to wearing floppy beanies that belong in a student bedsit. Some, such as Lionel Messi, barely bother at all, such are the pitfalls of trying to look cool, while Hector Bellerin and Daniel Sturridge are in danger of swinging the pendulum too far in the fashionista direction. A stylish footballer must be a footballer first, not some sort of bench-warming David Gandy.
Leroy Sané keeps himself centered on this stylistic tightrope. He is a footballer – a brilliant one – and he is defined by his performances, not his Copa 90 interviews. But he also looks a lot better than most Premier League wingers.
His aesthetic is very millennial, mixing streetwear and sportswear with ostentatious designer pieces such as camel coats, ripped jeans and a now-notorious faux fur jacket covered in expensive graffiti. Resembling something along the lines of a ‘Bond Street Wavey Garms’, it’s high-end without being too stuffy, street without being too grungy. At a glance he could be mistaken for a young actor with a complicated sex life and Dazed cover to his name. But he’s a footballer, so he’s probably a bit more boring than that.
It’s always refreshing to see a footballer who looks the part, because we – the paying public who ruined our chances of a trial by getting too into music and clothes and everything that comes with that – want them to be more like us. In actuality, they’re often very serious, focused young men who have had to forgo the youth culture apprenticeships that form the basis of personal style and taste. So, when one comes along who shows an interest in wearing clothes beyond their official sponsors or whatever in the shop is the most expensive, we take an interest.
Sané might not be David Bowie in 1982, but that doesn’t really matter. He’s trying, and he looks good. Although his style in clothes isn’t to everyone’s taste, he has enough natural style and poise to pull it off, and to teach us some interesting lessons about fashion and football. Namely: if you don’t look like Leroy Sané, don’t try to pull this shit off.