Bundesliga
Nagelsmann expecting Sane to shine
Julian Nagelsmann is confident he will bring the very best out of Leroy Sane, a year on from the his arrival at Bayern Munich.
Although Sane hit the ground running following his move from Manchester City a year ago, with a goal and two assists on his debut against his former club Schalke, he had a stop-start campaign which nevertheless concluded with six goals and 10 assists in the Bundesliga, and 10 and 12 in all competitions.
Considering he went into double figures for both goals and assists in his previous two seasons in England's Premier League, Nagelsmann believes the Germany winger can do even better in the coming campaign, and he has made it one of his priorities to restore Sane to his very best.
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"Leroy's got outstanding quality," Nagelsmann said at his first official press conference as Bayern coach. "He has incredible pace and is one of the best around in one-v-ones, and incredibly strong in dribbling.
"I'm not a witch or a magician, but in training, it will all be about showing him the spaces and where he should be, and then I'm convinced we're going to see a stronger, improved Leroy."
That will be music to the ears of Bayern fans, who – that 8-0 win over the Royal Blues notwithstanding – have only seen the best Sane has to offer in spurts, and a form explosion from the 25-year-old will help Nagelsmann find the winning formula in Munich.
That, by his own admission, is not going to take much, considering he inherits a side which – for the ninth straight season – set the benchmark in the Bundesliga, although he does have some ideas of his own that he intends to transmit to his team, who are in pre-season training since Wednesday.
"I won't turn everything on its head, but there will be a certain amount of flexibility," he said, while saying his fundamental tactics will be "limited to three" different systems.
"I can only support the players, train them well and give them decent instructions and try to show them the right direction, but it is they who then have to take the steps," added Nagelsmann, who says the Bayern job will only prove to be his dream job "when I win something".
He will get the first opportunity to do that on 17 August in the Supercup against Borussia Dortmund. Before that, though, Bayern travel to Bremer SV in the first round of the DFB Cup (6 August) before starting their Bundesliga campaign at Borussia Mönchengladbach (13 August).