WHEN it first became abundantly clear that Leroy Sane had little intention of signing a contract extension at Manchester City the UK’s Prime Minister was Theresa May, Madonna’s ‘Like A Prayer’ topped the charts, and England had yet to win a cricket World Cup.

One of the above is incorrect and if it’s not immediately obvious which is the misnomer that’s because this is a saga that has seemingly gone on forever. It traverses space, eras and oceans. It has tried and tested our patience. It can sometimes be hard to recall a time when the fleet-footed flyer was racing down City’s left free from rumours and uncertainty.

In March 2019 it was reported that the winger’s mother, in acting as his agent, was proving to be ‘obstructive’ to any meaningful progress being made in tying Sane down beyond his current contract that expires in the summer of 2021. It was reported too that the player ideally wanted to return home to Germany and the Bundesliga. These revelations came a full five months after the club briefed journalists that Sane was all set to join Ederson, Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling and Aymeric Laporte in penning a new deal.

Since then the 24-year-old’s stonewall of silence has spoken volumes while his most interested suitor Bayern Munich has talked and talked and talked. In fact, they haven’t shut up.

In July of last year the then Bayern boss Niko Kovac was firmly of the opinion that the PFA Young Player of the Year of 2018 was Bavaria-bound. “Our club management is very committed. It is not easy in this day and age, you see, otherwise it would already be sorted. But I am very confident. I assume we can get it [done]."

Encouraged by this, it didn’t take long for Bayern’s mouthpiece of choice Lothar Matthaus to insist that ‘with Sane coming’ the Bundesliga giants could ‘write the next story’ following the recent departures of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery.

Matthaus incidentally has since notably changed his tune, suggesting last week that Bayern’s new coach Hans-Dieter Flick would probably now prefer to sign Timo Werner from RB Leipzig, an attacker who is ‘better suited to this club’. “He is more flexible in the field. His character may correspond a little bit more to the wishes of those responsible. The risk of agitation is significantly lower,” concluded the World Cup-winning rent-a-quote.

Also last week, Michael Rummenigge – brother of Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz – chipped in with his two deutschemarks. “Bayern would have bought him for 100 to 120 million before the cruciate ligament rupture, but an obligation could now be significantly cheaper and maybe only cost 30 to 50 million."

In March it was revealed that Bayern’s Sporting Director Hasan Salihamidzic had held a ‘secret meeting’ with LIAN Sports, the star’s newly appointed representatives and yes, you read that right: a secret meeting. The club’s president Uli Hoeness meanwhile has pretty much aired a running commentary on the protracted chase, at turns losing his temper at a European rival for daring to put an ‘insane’ valuation on one of their most important players who is under contract, and who they have no desire to relinquish at any price; at other times claiming they were closely monitoring Sane’s recovery from long-term injury.

| Michael Rummenigge – brother of Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz – believes Leroy Sane could be available for a significantly lower price.

“Bayern would have bought him for 100 to 120 million…but an obligation could now be significantly cheaper and maybe only cost 30 to 50 million." pic.twitter.com/Byvs4wh73v

— City Chief (@City_Chief) April 10, 2020

It is not yet known what Bayern’s cleaner thinks of it all but Bild are sure to have an exclusive on this as it breaks yet for all of their machinations and bluster one consideration trumps the rest: reliable evidence suggests that Bayern Munich has never once made an official bid for Leroy Sane. If this reflects poorly on the German giants, exposing as it does their arrogant sense of entitlement and dearth of class, they are too deserving of a tiniest sliver of a break.

Because in any normal set of circumstances their – admittedly unsavoury – unsettling of a player would have worked and within a typical timeframe meaning Sane would presently be a Bayern player and their actions would now be forgotten about. Except during a transfer window when it was highly likely they would have secured their prey, their target went down under a heavy challenge in the Community Shield and damaged his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, putting him out for several months.

In this vacuum, as the player rehabbed at City, Bayern had little choice but to continue playing politics until he returned fully fit, late in the season. Except, as we all know, that hasn’t exactly gone to plan either; not with a global pandemic placing football on hiatus until God knows when. And now an already complicated business has many more unknowns thrown into the mix.

Sane is free to agree to a move of his choosing from next January but with football expected to endure a financial depression he can hardly expect anything like the speculated £350,000-a-week that was once on the table. Furthermore, nobody can be sure at what point competitive sport will resume and should the rest of the year be voided would Bayern really be so keen on a winger who has played so little for such a great degree of time? Especially one whose game is so reliant on explosive movement and razor-sharp twists and turns.

Prior to that potential melodrama playing out we can safely dismiss the possibility of City accepting any reduced fee. Why? Because they can and because the last club they would willingly cede a special talent to on the cheap is the one who has disrespected them at every juncture. To make matters even more convoluted Real Madrid and Barcelona have reportedly shown interest of late and just to muddy the waters that bit more City’s original offer is still there; lucrative and tempting and probably the best deal Sane will get in the short-term.

For the past twelve months Leroy Sane’s future has been in limbo and due to extraordinary circumstances it is now more ambiguous than ever before. It is a saga with no end in sight, ironically concerning a player known for making things happen on the pitch and by the time we’re done our patience will be worn and frayed.