The former Manchester City forward is making strong progress back from a knee injury, according to his manager
Leroy Sane’s return from serious injury is looking “very good”, according to Bayern Munich head coach Hansi Flick.
The former Manchester City man joined the Bavarians in the summer after a long pursuit of the winger, with their decision to sign him a terrific show of faith given that he had missed much of the previous year with a serious knee injury.
Indeed, the Germany international managed only 13 minutes of the previous season before going off injured during City’s Community Shield victory against Liverpool. He returned briefly for an 11-minute cameo against Burnley in June, but that proved his last match for the club.
The 24-year-old was fit enough to start in Bayern’s spectacular 8-0 win over Schalke on the opening day of the Bundesliga season, grabbing a goal and an assist in the process, while he also featured in the following 4-1 loss to Hoffenheim. However, he missed the thrilling 4-3 victory over Hertha Berlin because of an injury related to his previous complaint.
Flick, though, says that the problem is not a serious one and that he expects to see the winger back on the field imminently.
“I can’t say when it will be exactly,” the coach said, speaking after a DFB-Pokal victory over FC Duren on Thursday. “It looks very good. He’s doing training sessions.”
Despite the positive prognosis, Sane is expected to miss Saturday’s league clash with Arminia Bielefeld and the opening fixture of Bayern’s European Cup defence against Atletico Madrid.
“First of all, a very thorough diagnosis is required to see whether the problem in the knee joint that sustained the cruciate ligament rupture really is just the capsule,” Dr Michael Lehnert, a former doctor for the ladies’ team at VfL Wolfsburg, told Goal and Spox.
Speaking at the time when the injury was announced, it was his estimation that it would be roughly four weeks before Sane is back to training with the ball and it may be six before he is able to play.
Reports however suggest that he could be back training with the team next week, with his return forecast as early as the trip to Cologne on October 31.
