Man City have confirmed that Leroy Sane has rejected the offer of a new contract and will leave the club this summer if an acceptable offer arrives.
Sane, 24, has been out since August with a ruptured ACL and is finally back to full fitness but has just one year left on his current contract.
Speaking ahead of Man City v Burnley (Start time, 3pm ET, Monday, watch live on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com), Guardiola confirmed Leroy Sane will leave if the correct transfer offer is made as he will not sign a new contract.
“Leroy said he doesn’t want to extend the contract so it means he wants to leave and it is going to happen this summer or when he is out of contract,” Guardiola said. “The club have talked to me, they’ve offered two or three times to extend his contract, he rejected so it means he wants to play in another club. If at the end of this season we arrive at an agreement with another club, he is going to leave. If not he will stay one more year and leave when out of contract.”
So, that is that then.
Bayern Munich have long been linked with Sane but Man City wanted their German international winger to stay. Now it is clear he won’t, they will surely accept an offer of $35-40 million this summer and move on.
Look, it’s not like Man City don’t have a wealth of attacking options, especially out wide.
Sane has come up with some big goals at big moments and despite his positioning sometimes infuriating Guardiola, he has largely delivered for Man City since his arrival from Schalke in 2016. He has won two Premier League titles, two League Cups and an FA Cup and now he could be a valuable option off the bench as Man City try and win the Champions League in the mini-tournament in Lisbon in August.
With Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus, Sergio Aguero and Phil Foden around, Man City are pretty set for attackers and now it is all about making Bayern come up with the cash they want this summer.
Bayern have some quality wide players too with Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry and Ivan Perisic rotating but they have been long-time admirers of Sane and saw him as the perfect replacement for Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery who both retired last summer.
It seems like Sane is certain to head home to Germany.
