Berlin (AFP)

Long awaited, Leroy Sané is finally at Bayern Munich: the talented winger (24 years old) officially joined Bavaria from Manchester City on Friday, an ambitious recruitment which should allow the club champion of Germany to further rejuvenate its workforce for reconquer Europe.

The left-hander signed a five-year contract until June 30, 2025, Bayern said in a statement.

The Bavarian club did not specify the amount of the transfer but the German press speaks of 49 million euros, while Sané had only one year of contract with City. This sum is accompanied by bonuses which could increase the bill up to 60 million, according to British media, which would make it the largest transfer of Citizens.

According to the specialist magazine Kicker, the vice-champions of England also obtained a resale clause of the player which would give them a share of 10% of the transfer price in the event of possible resale.

His transfer had almost been concluded last summer but Sané had been victim in August of a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the right knee which had caused the operation to fail. At the time, the sums were around 100 to 120 million euros.

The economic crisis linked to Covid-19 then went through there and forced the hand of the Citizens.

Especially since City, which needs cash flow to comply with the requirements of UEFA's financial fair play, also had its knife in its throat: without an agreement this year, Sané would arrive at the end of contract in June 2021 and could then leave without any compensation.

- Replay -

It had been several months since the player had expressed his desire to join the Bavarian giant, according to German media.

According to Bild, to go to Bayern, Sané would have agreed to revise his salary ambitions down due to the impact of the epidemic, and this "significantly less" than the 20 million euros in annual salary that had been mentioned in the past. This would, however, place him among the highest paid in the locker room with Manuel Neuer and Robert Lewandowski.

This great hope of German football had an almost white season in England: the ultrafast winger only played 11 minutes this season in the Premier League, returning late in the game against Burnley at the end of June, for the 30th day.

The native of Essen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, had been transferred in 2016 from Schalke to City for ... just over 50 million.

He was one of the defining elements in the 2018 and 2019 Skyblues titles, even scoring the decisive goal against Liverpool in the tight title race of the 2018-2019 season.

He will join the collective training of Munich residents next week and will therefore not end the season with the Citizens, either in the league, in the Cup or even in the Champions League (8th final return against Real in August).

- Reclaim the C1 -

Not selected for the 2018 World Cup, to everyone's surprise, Sané is now part of the hard core of Joachim Löw's team, for which he has scored five goals in 21 games.

"Our aim is to bring together the best German players at FC Bayern and the signing of Leroy underlines this objective," said Bayern boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Because with this transfer, Bayern again seems to want to bet on "made in Germany" by attracting the best national talents.

With Neuer, Süle, Kimmich, Goretzka, Gnabry and now Sané, more than half of the Nationalmannschaft's workforce would be titular among the Red and White!

Thanks to this long-awaited transfer, Bayern is still continuing its rejuvenation process, no doubt necessary to regain the C1 which has been desperately escaping it since 2013.

Now with Sane, Coman and Gnabry on the wings, the German champion, who can still hope to win the treble this season (final of the German Cup on Saturday against Leverkusen and eighth final return of C1 against Chelsea in early August), gently turn the page of the Ribéry-Robben era, who both left the club a year ago.

© 2020 AFP