It has been a long time coming, but Leroy Sané is set to make his return to action for Bayern Munich. The winger has yet to feature for the Rekordmeister this season after he had an operation to repair a lingering groin problem after his involvement with the German national team at the Euros over the summer. He had been dealing with said injury for the majority of the second half of last season for Bayern up through the Euros with Germany and he has been working on his recovery and return to full fitness ever since.
For new manager Vincent Kompany, welcoming Sané back will almost be like having a new signing in attack, especially now that he is healthy and not carrying an injury as he was for the business end of last season. It might take some time for the winger to be inserted into any of Kompany’s starting lineup, but with a busy fixture list coming in the next month or so, there will certainly be occasions where rotations are needed.
Looking ahead, Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund expressed his delight and excitement at having a fit Sané back in the squad ahead of the Bundesliga clash at Holstein Kiel. “He played a really good first half of the season and had a lot of goal involvements. In the spring he was always struggling with injuries and pain. But he fought through it. He’s a real fighter. The nice thing now is that he is pain-free. We are happy that he is back and is really fit,” Freund enthused in the pre-Holstein Kiel press conference (via @iMiaSanMia)
There is certainly justification for Freund’s excitement and enthusiasm, too. The majority of Sané’s 10 goals and 13 assists last season across all competitions came in the beginning half of the season. During the second part of the season, when he was starting to suffer from his persistent injury problem, the production in the goals and assists department started to dip.
Hopefully for Kompany and the player himself, Bayern and Germany will be able to see pre-injury Sané this season.
Looking for more thoughts on the contract negotiations between Bayern Munich and Jamal Musiala, plus a take on Didi Hamann’s recent criticism of Musiala? What about an assessment of that crazy rumor eyeing a double-swoop of transfers in Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka? Awesome, then check out the latest edition of the Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Show on Patreon, Spotify, or below:
