Leroy Sane
If you're after an indication of how leroy sane's time at bayern munich is going, his reception from their fans during a recent 3-2 victory over FC Cole said it all the German winger signed for a hefty 54.8 million pounds just over 12 months ago was routinely booed by the bavarian followers. The situation grew so bad Julian argsman hauled off the 25 year old at half time. In 45 minutes Sane had completed nine of his 16 passes lost possession 11 times and only produced a single shot on targets. Sadly for Sane, this wasn't an isolated incident with the electric wide man often coming in for scrutiny since joining from Manchester city.
His first season at the Allianz produced glimpses of class finishing the campaign with six goals and nine assists in the bundesliga with a further three strikes in Europe. But despite his price tag Sane didn't become an automatic starter in hazy flick's system. Appearing off the bench 14 times in the league. Only the teenager Jamal Musiala and reserve forward eric chu promoting were more frequently used substitutes.
Now a tricky summer with the German national squad plus a fairly sluggish start to the new bully campaign has only worsened the former Sharka star situation. But what is going wrong for Sane? First of all it simply cannot be forgotten that in 2019 20 he played a grand total of 11 minutes of league football, thanks to a crucial ligament injury. This season prior had seen sane close to his best, registering 20 goal involvements in England's top flight and completing 56.5 percent of his colossal 5.2 attempted dribbles per 90.
He also produced over one shot on target per 90 resulting in a career best goal to shot ratio of 0.18 close to 1 in 5. Outperforming his xg by 4.4 goals, Sane had continued his wonderful form at the Etihad. He had so a year away from the pitch made his start to life at Bayern understandably challenging but the other big change to his game was being shifted from the left the right flank at the Rotten.
Whereas before Sane was encouraged to get down the byline, at the alliant he was frequently cutting inside to shoot on his left foot. That combined with verizon defensive duties has clearly impacted his game. In 2020-21 his tackles and interceptions hit a career-high 2.14 per 90. Meanwhile his touches in the final third and penalty area plummeted 26 on the 1819 campaign. Sane dribbled more often than before beating 80 people across the bouley season but picking the ball up from deeper than ever before resulted in 26 of his 57 attempts coming from outside the box. With a long-range expected goal to shot rate of just 0.04 he squandered a fair amount of chances.
Sane was also brought in for his big game pedigree as bayern looked to build on their 2020 champions league success. But against PSG in last year's thrilling quarter-final first leg, the 36th captain international was found wanting. Bayern attempted 31 shots though Sani contributed just two with never on targets. His sulky pass was the least of any bayern attacker and fewer than Jerome Boateng and he left the field injured just after half time from then on flick often turned to Mussiala over his big ticket signing.
Julian Nagelsmann may do the same if he can't get the best out of Sane this season.
Donny Van De Beek
If Leroy Sane is enduring something of a rough time at Bayern Munich. Then it can't really get much worse for Donny Van De Beek at Manchester united. The dutch international appears nowhere near the starting eleven. With Fred, Scott, mctominay and a 33 year old Nemanja Matic all preferred ahead of him along with Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandez further forward. In fact he hasn't appeared in competitive action since playing 13 minutes against gibraltar for the netherlands back in March. Various muscular issues are partly to blame for the midfielder's absence. An only gunner soldier has reportedly insisted he remains part of his plans after blocking a deadline day move to Everton. But plenty more will be expected of Van De Beek's performances on the pitch.
Especially considering the 39 million pounds they paid dutch out for Ajax for his services. In the 515 minutes of premier league action he was afforded last term Van De Beek scored and assisted one apiece. He actually maintained a fairly solid pass completion rate of 86.1 and did offer up 3.2 tackles and interception per 90.
Forced to play deeper with Bruno Fernandez in his preferred role behind the forwards but there have been concerns over whether the 24 year old is too lightweight to cope with the physicality of the premier league. It's telling that he spent much of the summer off season building muscle having returned with a much sturdier frame. Van De beek's main hope at United is that salsa moves away from a double pivot in the midfield and encourages his midfielders to attack. This would suit the dutchman who scored 28 times and registered 21 assists between 2017 and 2020 for Ajax.
Back then he averaged 1.7 key passes and 2.1 shots per 90 even completing over one dribble per match. At united however his attacking prowess has been largely nullified thanks to his positional requirements, from what few opportunities he was afforded he mustered up a mere two shots while just 10 live passes and one dribble led to an effort on goal. His own solitary strike came way back on his debut against Crystal Palace. However, he did hold an expected assist rate of 0.19 last season, just shy of one every five games this ranks him just behind Luke Shaw and Bruno Fernandez in United's regular starters.