Leroy Sane explained how he believes that he has matured since leaving Manchester City to join Bayern Munich.
The German international completed a switch to the Bundesliga giants following a €60 million (£54.8m/$67m) deal in the summer of 2020. Since then he has grown in stature at Allianz Arena and is now an integral figure in the Bayern dressing room led by Thomas Tuchel. He believes that with time he has not only become a better footballer but also matured after learning from the mistakes he committed in his younger days.
Speaking to magazine ’51’, Sane said: “I was 24 years old back then, I’ll be 28 in January. I think that in this age range every person goes through a certain amount of development and attains maturity. In hindsight, I admit that in the past I was sometimes too easy to open up for attack, into which dozens of things were then interpreted. But you also learn from that. You become more mature and develop a better feeling for what is received and how it is received externally.
“I’ve had ups and downs in my career, but I’ve also been able to learn a lot from the downs. I’m also a father of two now, which also makes you more mature.”
Sane has forged a highly productive partnership with summer arrival Harry Kane which has resulted in plenty of goals for Bayern Munich. He also admitted that his self-confidence got a major boost with the arrival of Thomas Tuchel which has helped him realise his full potential.
“I already had a very good preparation under Thomas Tuchel,” he said. “Everything felt very good. And then one thing led to another. My self-confidence got bigger and bigger, and with this self-confidence things just went better overall.”
Sane has made 18 goal contributions, nine goals and nine assists each, in 24 appearances in this campaign so far, which is just one less than Kane’s tally of 25 (21 goals and four assists).
Sane is currently enjoying his Christmas break and will return to action against Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga on January 13.