Willy Sagnol urges Bayern Munich not to sign Man City's Leroy Sane

Former Bayern Munich defender Willy Sagnol has warned the Bavarian giants against signing Manchester City forward Leroy Sane.

Bayern's honorary president and deputy chairman Uli Hoeness is hoping to do a deal for Sane this summer to complement the club's young core - comprising talents such as Joshua Kimmich, Niklas Suele and David Alaba - as the club continue their rebuilding process.

However, former France international Sagnol felt that signing the 24-year-old Sane for a purported 70 million euros (S$110m) would be a gamble.

Instead, Sagnol urged the Bundesliga leaders to consider Bayer Leverkusen playmaker Kai Havertz.

"Sane doesn't correspond at all to Bayern in terms of his character," Sagnol told RMC.

"He's someone whose form is very inconsistent and who is very withdrawn. He doesn't suit the club at all. He's had a lot of problems at Manchester City and with the national team.

"We're talking about a cost of 70-80m euros. In that case, I would prefer to put another 20m euros down and sign Havertz."

The Bavarian giants were keen on bringing Sane over last summer, but the precocious winger suffered knee ligament damage, just four days before the transfer window closed.

But Hoeness has not given up on his pursuit of the Germany international, as Bayern embark on a "new era" next season.

"With Kimmich, Suele, Alaba, Thiago (Alcantara) and also Sane, we have a young, viable team," Hoeness told radio station Bayern 1.

"I can imagine, if everything goes well, that a new era is just beginning at Bayern Munich."

TOUGH TO SIGN HAVERTZ

Hoeness also hopes to sign Havertz, but the financial uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic means it might not be possible to get both Sane and Havertz.

Havertz, 20, has been linked with some of Europe's biggest clubs, following his scoring exploits in the Bundesliga.

This season, the attacking midfielder has racked up 15 goals in 38 matches and his goal in their 1-0 win over Freiburg last Friday saw him become the first Bundesliga player to reach 35 goals before turning 21.

"We would certainly like to have Havertz, but you obviously do not know exactly what the economic future of football as a whole is," Hoeness said.

"I would love to see him in Munich for sporting reasons, but frankly, as of today, I can't imagine that he's coming."

Havertz had said he hopes to play in the Champions League, something that Bayern will certainly be able to offer.

The Bavarian side's 5-0 win over Fortuna Duesseldorf yesterday morning (Singapore time) saw them go 10 points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who visited Paderborn this morning.

Striker Robert Lewandowski ended a personal jinx when he opened his account against Duesseldorf by scoring twice, as Bayern chase an eighth successive league title.

Lewandowski snapped his goal drought against Duesseldorf to give Bayern a 3-0 lead in the first half, after a Mathias Jorgensen own-goal and a Benjamin Pavard header opened the floodgates.

The Poland international made it 4-0 five minutes after the break, before left-back Alphonso Davies completed the rout two minutes later. It also meant that Lewandowski had netted against every current Bundesliga team.

The 31-year-old has now scored 43 goals in all competitions this term, equalling his personal best, which was set in the 2016/17 campaign.

Bayern coach Hansi Flick, who became the club's first coach to win 22 of his opening 25 games in charge, surpassing Pep Guardiola's record of 21, stressed he cared only about filling the trophy cabinet.

"I am not interested in statistics, it's about being successful and it was important for us after the Dortmund game not to let up," he said, referring to Bayern's 1-0 win at their closest rivals last Tuesday.

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LAST NIGHT'S RESULT:

Borussia M'gladbach 4 Union Berlin 1