Heading into the recent match between Manchester City and
Liverpool, the two Premier League powerhouses were first and second in the
league, with Liverpool ahead of City by seven points. Thus, there was a
tremendous amount riding on the outcome of this clash.
The game at the Etihad Stadium ended in a 2-1 victory for
the Citizens, with Leroy Sané scoring City’s winning goal to cap off what was
arguably his best performance of the season.
The German winger absolutely torched the Reds’ defence,
making the normally solid defensive pairing of Dejan Lovren and Virgil van Dijk
look like complete amateurs.
But here’s the interesting part – despite being an integral
part of City’s Premier League-winning team of last season, many do not truly
appreciate the value that Sané brings to the table. While he did win the PFA
Young Player of the Year award last season, the award seemed to do little to
enhance his standing with the average fan.
When people think of Manchester City, they will usually
think of players such as Bernardo Silva, Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne,
Raheem Sterling, and, of course, Sergio Agüero. Leroy Sané is frequently
overlooked.
This is unfortunate because Sané has been one of City’s
best players ever since joining the Manchester club from Schalke in 2016.
Sané first arrived at the Etihad to much fanfare, and
rightly so – he was, and still is, considered one of Germany’s best young prospects.
Sané garnered a tremendous amount of hype during the 2015-16 season, his last
with Schalke. It didn’t take him long to make an impact – despite missing
almost a third of the season due to injury, Sané quickly established himself as
a mainstay of the team and was named the club’s Player of the Month in February
and March.
The following season was a career-best season for Sané as
he helped City win the Premier League with a remarkable 100 out of a possible
114 points. His Young Player of the Year award was a fitting conclusion to a campaign
in which he was one of City’s standouts, scoring 10 goals and handing out 15
assists. In doing so, Sané established himself as one of the best players at
his position in the league. However, despite winning the award, Sané was twice
snubbed at the end of the season – first by PFA experts who inexplicably
selected Christian Eriksen of Tottenham over him in the Premier League’s best
11 of the season, then by Germany coach Joachim Löw who did not select him as
part of Die Mannschaft’s World Cup squad. Löw’s decision backfired in shocking
fashion as Germany were sent packing in the group stage; many believed that had
Sané been playing, he would have made a difference and helped Germany advance
to the round of 16.
These two snubs appear to have fuelled Sané this season,
as he is clearly playing with a chip on his shoulder and a point to prove. His
performance against Liverpool only gave further evidence of this fact.
So why has he been slept on? In my opinion, here are some
of the reasons why.
1) He plays for Manchester City. This is a loaded team
with two clearly superior players in Agüero and De Bruyne. Furthermore, players
such as David Silva, Sterling, and Kompany seem to resonate more with the average
fan.
2) He is not British. Last season, some of the other
nominees for the Young Player of the Year award that Sané won were Harry Kane,
Sterling, and Marcus Rashford. While Kane is certainly a better player than
Sané, the other two are definitely not. What do all three of these players have
in common, though?
Exactly.
Once again, the British media has overhyped its own
players to such a degree that better players are overlooked.
3) He hasn’t done much at international level (yet). He
has only played 17 games for Germany thus far and has featured in just 11
minutes of tournament play – against France in Euro 2016. Despite this, more
opportunities should surely come his way in the future, especially since
Germany failed without him at the World Cup.
If he continues on his current path, it won’t be much
longer before fans and media begin to take more notice of the man from Essen.
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