Return to England? 

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With the current season just a few months away from its dramatic conclusion, a number of clubs have already begun looking ahead to the summer transfer window and, in particular, which players could be available on a free transfer. One such player is none other than Bayern Munich winger Leroy Sané, whose contract with the Bundesliga giants looks set to expire with little hope of an extension on the horizon. And, according to new reports in Germany, a number of Premier League clubs have already taken notice. 

Rumour
	L. Sané
	Right Winger
Bayern Munich ? Arsenal Bundesliga Premier League

Having been previously linked with former club Manchester City, German newspaper Sport-Bild are now reporting that Arsenal have taken a serious interest in signing the 29-year-old player. Having worked with the German international at the Etihad club, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is reportedly keen to add Sané to his forward line next season. But why would Bayern be willing to let their star winger depart the club for free this summer and would Sané make a good signing for Arsenal or indeed any other English club this summer? 

How good has Leroy Sané been at Bayern? 

So far this season Sané has picked up a perfectly respectable eight goals and four assists in all competitions for Bayern, but in many ways he has been outshone by a number of the club’s other attacking players. Naturally, star striker Harry Kane leads the way with total goal contributions having bagged 43 in 36 games for the club, but Sané has also lagged behind Jamal Musiala (24 goals and assists in 37 games) and new signing Michael Olise (24 in 39 games). When compared to the attacking trio, Sané’s decent return in front of goal looks entirely ordinary and in many ways that sums up his time in Munich over the course of the last four and a half seasons. 

As we can see in the table above, which shows Sane’s goals and assists per 90 minutes in all competitions in each of the last 10 seasons, we can see that the forward’s goal contributions have worked out at around 0.71 per 90. Again, that’s not particularly bad, but it’s also not great. In comparison, Musiala’s average for this season stands at 0.82 goal contributions per 90 and Olise’s is even better at 0.85 goal contributions per 90. In other words, Sané has always been a decent source of goals and assists for Bayern but he’s never quite hit the career highs that we saw from the pacy winger during his time at Man City and as a result Bayern have never been able to rely upon him as a match-winning player quite like the aforementioned duo.  

Why are Bayern willing to let Sané leave this summer? 

With Sané’s average goal contributions in mind, we can then take a look at his game time in Munich over the course of the last five seasons and quickly see a correlation between his performances and his standing in Vincent Kompany’s team. So far this season Sané has picked up 1,711 minutes of football in all competitions making him Bayern’s twelfth most-used player. When we focus in on his game time in the Bundesliga, it works out to Sané only featuring in 49% of the club’s league campaign. And, as we can see in the graphic above, that’s the winger’s worst return in a league campaign since the 2019/20 season, when he was ruled out for almost the entirety of the Premier League campaign with a cruciate ligament tear. 

Indeed, a look at Sané’s game time for both Man City and Bayern perhaps points to a player that has always struggled to be the leading man at either club. That’s not to say that Sané hasn’t been an important player at either club – he was clearly a vital first team player for Man City in the 2017/18 season and for Bayern last season when he played over 70% of the available league minutes – but an average of 56% over the course of the 10 seasons certainly points to a player that was often dropped to the bench or used as a sub for both clubs. And while Sane’s high-profile injuries in the past accounted for some of those missed league minutes, in truth his injuries at Bayern have only ruled him out of a total of 19 games across five seasons which works out at around 11% of the potential games he could have played in.  

When we then consider that Sané is among the top 10 earners at Bayern, it certainly explains why the Munich side would be hesitant about offering the winger a new contract on his existing terms. The former Schalke wonderkid is undoubtedly a very good player, but neither his goal contributions or game time at Bayern would define him as one of the Bundesliga club’s most important players. And if Sané feels like he could find another club that would be willing to make him a key cog in their machine next season, it may make sense for all parties if he parted ways with the club in the summer and began a new chapter in his career elsewhere.