Leroy Sané

Leroy Aziz Sané (; born 11 January 1996) is a German footballer who plays as a winger or as an attacking midfielder for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the German national team. He made his professional debut for Schalke 04 in 2014 and transferred to Manchester City in 2016 for an initial £37 million fee.

Early Life and Academy Football
Sané was born on January 11, 1996. He was born in Essen, Germany. Sané joined the youth team of SG Wattenscheid 09 at the age of 5. In 2005, he joined the academy of German club Schalke 04. He would join the academy of Bayer Leverkusun in 2008. He rejoined Schalke 04's academy in 2011

Club Career

Schalke 04
Sané signed a 3-year professional contract with Schalke 04 in 2014. He made his Bundesliga debut against VfB Stuttgart on April 20, 2014. He was subbed on in the 77th minute, replacing Max Meyer in a 3-1 loss. He scored his first goal on December 13, 2014 in a 2-1 loss against 1. FC Köln. He scored his first UEFA Champions League goal in a 4-3 win against Real Madrid on March 11, 2015.

Manchester City 
He signed a 5-year contract with Premier League club Manchester City on August 2, 2016. Reportedly, the transfer fee was £37 million, with add-ons based on performance potentially making the fee around £46.5 million. He made his debut with the club on September 10 that year, against ‘Manchester United’ in the ‘Manchester’ derby. On December 18 the same year, he scored his first goal for the club during the ‘Premier League’ match against ‘Arsenal.’ He missed out playing in the 2017 ‘FIFA Confederations Cup,’ as he had to undergo a corrective surgery to overcome his chronic nasal congestion problem.
Leroy continued to perform well in the 2017–2018 season and received the ‘Premier League Player of the Month’ award for October 2017. He was part of the club’s squad during the 2017–2018 ‘FA Cup.’ The 2018 ‘EFL Cup’ final, which was held on February 25, 2018, at ‘Wembley Stadium,’ saw ‘Manchester City’ clinching the trophy by scoring 3–0 against ‘Arsenal.’ Leroy played 77 minutes in the match before he was substituted off.
The ‘PFA Young Player of the Year’ title went to him in 2017–2018, for his contribution in the 2017–2018 ‘Premier League’ title win by ‘Manchester City.’ It marked the third ‘Premier League’ title of the club.
His first ‘Manchester’ derby goal came on April 24, 2019, in a 2–0 win of ‘Manchester City’ against ‘Manchester United.’
He sustained a torn ACL during the 2019 ‘FA Community Shield’ match held between ‘Manchester City’ and ‘Liverpool’ on August 4, 2019. He thus played for 13 minutes before being substituted off. ‘Manchester City’ succeeded in defending the trophy, winning 5–4 on penalties.

Bayern Munchen 
Leroy Sane left Manchester City and joined Bayern Munich on July 15, 2020 for €49,000,000.  Leroy Sane forever!

International career 
Leroy holds both German and French citizenships and was thus eligible to play for any of the two nations. He, however, chose to play for Germany.
He made his junior international debut with the German national under-19 squad in 2014. His stint with the team till sometime in 2015 saw him score 8 goals in his 11 appearances with the squad. On August 28, 2015, he received a call from coach Horst Hrubesch to play for the German under-21 team for a friendly match against Denmark. He also played against Azerbaijan in a 2017 ‘UEFA European Under-21 Championship’ qualifier match.
Leroy holds both German and French citizenships and was thus eligible to play for any of the two nations. He, however, chose to play for Germany.
He made his junior international debut with the German national under-19 squad in 2014. His stint with the team till sometime in 2015 saw him score 8 goals in his 11 appearances with the squad. On August 28, 2015, he received a call from coach Horst Hrubesch to play for the German under-21 team for a friendly match against Denmark. He also played against Azerbaijan in a 2017 ‘UEFA European Under-21 Championship’ qualifier match.

Personal life
He is the son of former Senegalese footballer Souleyman Sané and former German ‘Olympic’ gymnast Regina Weber. As of 2018, Leroy had been dating American model, singer, and reality TV personality Candice Brook. Their daughter, Rio Stella, was born in September 2018.

References

1996 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Essen
German footballers
Association football forwards
Manchester City F.C. players
Premier League players
UEFA Euro 2016 players