Leroy Sane embodies Pep Guardiola‘s Manchester City revolution – his pace and dribbling are lighting up the Premier League
Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling are all exciting but Sane gets fans on their feet
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THE sparkling form of Leroy Sane shows how Pep Guardiola is giving Manchester City a fresher, younger makeover.
City no longer look an ageing, slightly tired outfit, and much of that is down to Sane and the impact he has made in a short space of time.
A lot of overseas players struggle when they first come to England, especially the younger ones. But Sane, 21, has taken to it like a duck to water.
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His pace is frightening. He loves to run at defenders and is brimming with confidence.
He also has a real eye for goal, scoring six times in his last 12 appearances. That shows he feels very comfortable with the City set-up.
Middlesbrough didn’t know how to cope with him in their FA Cup quarter-final, but they are not the first team to suffer that way — and they certainly won’t be the last.
Aguero, Silva, De Bruyne and Sterling are all exciting players, but at this rate Sane is going to prove the guy who really gets supporters on the edge of their seats at the Etihad.
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He has been helped by the fact City’s first-choice front five are a pretty settled unit.
When you are playing with the same guys regularly it’s easier to slot into a rhythm.
You know their movement, the runs they make and where they like the ball delivered. That’s a big advantage for any winger.
Of course, the same thing cannot be said of City’s defensive unit.
Pep has chopped and changed his back four — and the goalkeeper — all season and he clearly has not found a formula he’s completely happy with yet.
I know I have been saying something similar all season, but that is because there are no real signs of improvement.
City will always score goals, but they are far too vulnerable at the back.
That was obvious once more against Middlebrough, despite the clean sheet.
There were a couple of mistakes that would have been punished by better teams.
John Stones was bought at almost exactly the same time as Sane and with his Everton background you would expect him to hit the ground running.
But it just hasn’t happened for him, although he is one of those players who hasn’t been helped by all the changes being made at his end of the park.
City were shaky again at the Riverside, but Boro were never going to take advantage.
They were terrible and you fear for them the longer this goal drought goes on.
City won’t get away with it when they play the return leg of their Champions League tie in Monaco.
There are no guarantees that the 5-3 lead they take into the second leg is going to be enough to see them into the last eight.
I can see plenty more goals on Wednesday and it is just a case of whether City can score more than they concede.
I suspect they did just enough with that terrific final flourish in the home game to make sure they edge it.
But Barcelona’s fightback against Paris Saint-Germain and the way Bayern Munich rattled in ten goals against Arsenal over two legs shows you can’t take anything for granted.
Who would have thought we would see two 5-1s and a 6-1 scoreline at this stage of the competition.
Even if City go through, you have to feel their defensive shortcomings will be exploited by teams like Barca, Bayern and Real Madrid.
FA Cup glory is their only real chance of success and Pep will want a trophy in his first season, especially with Jose Mourinho winning one at United.
The last four will be about as good as it gets in terms of quality and I expect City to give it a real go.