I Am Not Thinking About The Ballon d’Or Now – Sane

For a manager like Pep Guardiola who believes that players remaining calm is crucial to success, Leroy Sane looks like his perfect attacker. Sane is so relaxed he is able to fall asleep on the team bus in the five minutes it takes it to travel from Manchester City’s academy to the Etihad on matchday.

At 22, he is three years younger than the Egyptian but his composure and confidence are outstanding for a player so inexperienced, having only only made a combined 150 appearances for Schalke, City and Germany. But if his rate of improvement continues, Sane has the potential to even become a future Ballon d’Or winner.

“I was asked if I’m thinking about the Ballon d’Or. It’s way too early, especially a trophy like this. It would be nice for me if I could reach it in future, but not now,” he told The National newspaper in March.

Sane could crack through that double figure barrier in City’s next match against West Ham United after being given the weekend off for the 5-0 victory over Swansea City. That would see him come up against former teammate Pablo Zabaleta, who has seen the quality of the German winger close up in training last season. The Argentinian was heard to mutter a small expletive after being informed he would be directly up against Sane when the two sides met in a preseason friendly in Iceland last August.

Sane’s teammates David Silva and De Bruyne as well as Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah could all potentially reach double figures in both goals and assists and it’s no surprise that all four players were nominated for the main PFA Player of the Year award. Salah was a worthy winner.

In Guardiola he has the perfect mentor and the Catalan won’t allow the winger to stagnate in his development. Sane was left out of six of City’s first seven matches with Guardiola saying he didn’t warrant a place in his team.

“He didn’t arrive good. He didn’t make a good preseason, he wasn’t good in the first games of preseason. He didn’t deserve to play,” Guardiola said in September.

Guardiola has no doubt about his quality and will push him to get even better. “I can say that because I was the manager of the best player in history [Messi]. That’s why I know he can improve,” he said. “With this talent it would be a pity not to try to realise all this potential that he has.”