Sane still has plenty to prove to Guardiola
AS Leroy Sane started another season at City on the bench, it was a bit of a shock.
You could have imagined the headlines being prepared before the game – LETHAL LEROY SILENCES LOEW to mark an end to his World Cup upset, and remind everyone why his peers voted him the best young player in the Premier League last season.
Being absent from Russia was supposed to give the German both platform and motivation to unleash more havoc on defenders and be one of Pep Guardiola’s key men with so many of his star performers undertaking a heavy workload over the summer.
Instead, it was Raheem Sterling, one of the latest to rejoin the squad in pre-season, that impressed enough in training with his fitness levels to make the starting XI and then produce another uncomfortable afternoon for his critics.
How did the man 52 per cent of England love to hate leapfrog his team-mate after so much less time with the City squad? It’s clear Guardiola was not fully pleased with Sane on the pre-season tour.
The winger started just one of the first six games last season after underwhelming his manager last summer. And offered on a plate the opportunity to contrast that effort with their recent trip to the States after Sane came off the bench to score against Liverpool in New Jersey, the coach gave a contrary take.
“It depends on him,” he said. “He needs more minutes and he needs to regain his principles in terms of playing without the ball. He has the talent to do that and we are happy that he scored. Still, he is far away from his best.”
Every player needs treating differently and Guardiola has been happy previously to remind Sane of his shortcomings in public, although his scant game time in subsequent fixtures with Bayern, Chelsea and Arsenal point towards the Catalan’s feelings. But the manager has also been careful to protect a player who took time to settle at the club. Having been eased in during his first season, Sane’s return from exile last year came against West Brom in the Carabao Cup, Palace in the league and Shakhtar in the Champions League before the reward of Chelsea away – he starred in all of them.
And Guardiola was on the phone to his player in the summer after the heartbreaking omission from the World Cup squad. With reports in Germany claiming attitude problems had cost him his place, the 22-year-old spent the first part of his summer watching every game of a tournament it had been his boyhood dream to play in - and that has to take time to recover from.
Riyad Mahrez’s arrival adds to the competition, but when he is fit and focused there is almost no stopping Sane.