For some months, dating back to the winter transfer window, Bayern Munich have been in pursuit of Callum Hudson-Odoi.
They’ve spoken about it publicly, repeatedly, and after the Chelsea player was injured there was even talk of Bayern sending their own doctor to check out his recovery.
It was arrogance on a whole new scale.
Similar has been going on with Manchester City’s Leroy Sane, with open efforts being made all summer to convince the player to return to Germany.
Back in May, Uli Hoeneß confirmed to Süddeutsche Zeitung the club was ‘dealing with’ Sane’s ‘people’.
There’s been absolutely nothing hidden about the apparent tapping-up.
When it started to become clear Sane wasn’t as keen as Bayern hoped, and was edging towards a Manchester City stay, excuses started being rolled out.
On June 20th, Bild said the relationship between Sane’s girlfriend Candice Brook and the player’s mother is ‘not the best’, and that the latter would be keen on him returning to his own country. Meanwhile, Brook wasn’t so keen to give up on life in England.
Four days later it was claimed Sane doesn’t want to be a ‘super newcomer’ at Bayern, with all the pressure and focus that would bring. Therefore he’d rather ‘go under the radar’ at Manchester City.
Because City players don’t get any media coverage, obviously.
Money was also blamed, and then Bild rounded it off by saying: ‘Glamour friend Candice Brook wants to stay in England’
In their eyes, it’s obviously impossible for a player to turn Bayern down for normal reasons.
Bayern Munich themselves had gone relatively quiet, but now Niko Kovac has done some flirting. Asked if Sane could help the club, Bild quote him as saying: “Yes, absolutely. You’ve seen his capabilities with the national team.”
Maybe Manchester City should fix their eyes on a Bayern player and start a similar game.
