OWEN HARGREAVES knows all about the pull of Bayern Munich that is tempting Leroy Sane to leave Manchester City.
The only question for Germany star Sane, as Hargreaves sees it, is whether he will miss Pep Guardiola’s unique coaching.
Sane must choose between arguably the greatest manager in football and the lure of Bayern MunichCredit: AFP – Getty
Former Bayern star Hargreaves said: “For Leroy, if he wants to go back home and has the opportunity to play for the biggest team in Germany then I can understand that.
“Bayern Munich is such a big draw for any German player.
“But to leave Man City and the football they play under Pep Guardiola is a tough choice.
“I remember interviewing Leroy and he was saying that the detail Pep gives you is something else.
“He will tell you to stand a yard or two from where you normally stand when the ball is on the other side of the pitch.
“If you tell a young player to stand in a certain space and it comes off, they think, ‘How did he know that?’.
“Once you’ve had a manager who gives you that, it’s hard to go back.
“It’s hard to leave that because you’ll be looking at your next manager, thinking, ‘Where’s the info, boss?’.”
Having said that, Hargreaves believes Bayern – whose striker Robert Lewandowski has urged Sane to join – are back to playing Pep-style football after a difficult start to the season.
Hansi Flick was appointed caretaker boss after the sacking of Niko Kovac but has done enough to be given the job on a permanent basis.
Bayern, Bundesliga champions for the last seven seasons, went into this weekend four points clear at the top and today visit mid-table Union Berlin.
Hargreaves made 145 appearances for BayernCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Hargreaves said: “Credit to Hansi Flick — they’re playing a bit like they wanted to under Pep in terms of possession. But also out of possession they press and they win it back.
“He has done an unbelievable job. The team is playing some exceptional football.
“For British fans, they probably saw Bayern for one of the first times against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, where they were too good for Chelsea.
“That Bayern Munich team is a bit like a fantasy football team.”
In terms of domestic success, Bayern are on a roll even more impressive than what was achieved in Hargreaves’ time. But the lack of Champions League success — the club has won it only once since Hargreaves lifted the trophy in 2001 — is felt hard.
Hargreaves, now a Bundesliga pundit for BT Sport, said: “Expectation at Bayern is huge. We would win a game 2-0 and we would get back in the dressing room and you would have people like Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who were two of the best players in the world during their generation.
“You would have a drink to celebrate and they would be saying, ‘That was rubbish, you guys will have to do better than that’.
“You’d be thinking, ‘Wow, this is a tough crowd’ — but that is the level.
“Even winning the double is not enough at Bayern. They don’t just expect you to win the league and the cup, you also have to go deep in the Champions League.”
Hargreaves learnt the hard way what it took to survive and thrive at Bayern after joining as a 16-year-old and forcing his way into the first-team squad while still a teenager.
Training, in front of up to 10,000 fans, often exploded into fights as the alpha-male egos of “FC Hollywood” clashed.
He recalled: “Everybody kicked off. There were fights all the time. That was just how it was.
“I remember Lothar Matthaus and Bixente Lizarazu . . . they would give each other a clip. Whenever we signed new players that came from the Bundesliga, the best players in the Bundesliga, they would come on the first day and they would get smashed in the boxes [drill] in the first kick.
“The boys are just testing their level. I remember Stefan Effenberg kicked me every day for about six months. He’d kick me and then lift me back up and I didn’t say a word.
“After about six months, he said to me, ‘You know what, Owen, you’re all right. You’ve earned the right to be one of us’. That was the school back then.”
Characters like Effenberg and Roy Keane, Hargreaves’ captain at Manchester United, are in shorter supply these days.
But the stature of Bayern remains, which is why a player like Sane would even consider leaving a club like Manchester City.
Hargreaves said: “Bayern are the Juventus of Germany, or the Barcelona or the Real Madrid.
“I don’t care what team you play for in the world, Bayern’s level is as good as anyone’s anywhere, in terms of infrastructure and everything.
“So I think it’s tough for Leroy growing up with that, being at Schalke as a kid and seeing that you can’t get away from Bayern Munich — they’re on TV and in the papers every day.
“If he’s ever going to leave Man City, the pool of clubs that he goes to is a very small one — it’s Bayern, Barcelona, Real Madrid or Juventus. I don’t think other teams get into that level.
“In Germany, fans love and loathe Bayern in equal measure. But whether you love them or hate them, they are always must-watch.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
