Leroy Sane was substituted at halftime amid boos from the crowd in Bayern Munich’s win over Cologne at home on Sunday. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge compares Leroy Sane’s situation at Bayern Munich to that of Arjen Robben in his early years at the football club. Sane has struggled to put together a consistent run after joining the Bundesliga champions from Manchester City in July 2020.
During his time at Man City, the flying winger was one of the Premier League’s most exciting attackers, but last season he was relegated to the bench under Hansi Flick. On Sunday, he was substituted at halftime after eliciting jeers from Bayern fans in Julian Nagelsmann’s first competitive home game as manager.
Rummenigge, who stepped down from Bayern’s board at the end of last season, believes the Germany international’s situation, and the treatment he received from some Bayern fans, is similar to Robben’s initial reaction. In 2009 Robben arrived at Bayern from Real Madrid and went on to become a club legend, but Rummenigge revealed that the Dutch attacker considered leaving at one point.
“At first I didn’t like it, I feel sorry for him [Sane],” Rummenigge said on Bild’s Reif ist live podcast about what happened on Sunday. “He tries but has no confidence. He didn’t play a good game. With his transfer fee and salary, the criticism of the fans is slowly coming up.”
“I remembered 2012 in the stadium. There was the famous home final [in the Champions League]. It reminded me of the sad Arjen Robben. He missed a penalty in the final. Arjen was almost ready to ask for his release. But we said: ‘No, we won’t do that.’ He was an important player for Bayern Munich. We supported him. Jupp Heynckes built him up as a coach. He was extremely ambitious. The result: a year later he was the match-winner in the Champions League final against Dortmund.”
