The German star is out of contract in 2021 and talks over a new deal have not progressed for some time. And if City don't sell this summer, they risk losing the 24-year-old for nothing in 12 months.
Bayern Munich are interested in the winger and have been for some time. Were it not for a knee injury sustained in the Community Shield at the start of the campaign, Sane may have moved to Bavaria last summer.
Yet the player's agent Damir Smoljan has revealed this week Bayern are not the only side interested in signing Sane, who would cost around £70m.
“Together we will talk with Manchester City about what the next step could look like,” Smoljan told German publication BILD earlier this week. “The interest of Bayern is no secret. But other top clubs also contacted us about Leroy.”
Losing Sane would be a bitter blow for City. When fully fit and focused, he is one of the most devastating wide players in European football.
Last season in the Premier League he averaged 0.36 assists per 90, only bettered by one top-flight midfielder. He was also second for touches in the opposition box per 90 (6.26) and inside the top 20 for goals per 90 (0.45), dribbles completed per 90 (4.45) and crosses attempted per 90 (4.04).
Sane also complements Raheem Sterling perfectly: City fans have become used to seeing the former skip past a defender and then drill the ball into the six-yard box for the latter to tap home.
Using the Twenty3 lab, we have identified three players City could turn to to replicate that output.
Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund)
No surprise to see Sancho make the cut. After all, the 20-year-old has established himself as one of the brightest young players in Europe since leaving Manchester City in the summer of 2017 for BVB.This season he has taken his game up another level, too. He has become more consistent and more decisive in the final third, making him a good option for City if and when Sane moves on.
In the Bundesliga this term, Sancho has averaged 0.67 goals per 90 and 0.72 assists per 90. It is, frankly, an exceptional level of performance and well above his expected numbers for the campaign - his open-play expected goals per 90 (xG90) is 0.29 and open-play expected goals assisted (xA90) is 0.29.
Top-level players tend to outperform their expected metrics, Sane's xG90 last term was 0.27 and his xA90 was 0.30, both figures are less than his actual output.
What Sancho doesn't do at Dortmund, though, is deliver from wide areas on a consistent basis - he has attempted just 1.64 crosses per 90 - and his touches in the opposition box per 90 (4.95) is below what Sane achieved in 2018/19.
It is not a great cause for concern, though. Different managers ask for different things from their players. What's clear is that Sancho could fill the goalscoring and creative void left by Sane at the Etihad.
Moussa Diaby (Bayer Leverkusen)
Another 20-year-old starlet from the Bundesliga, Diaby isn't yet as established as Sancho but he may prove to be just as talented.The French winger joined Bayer Leverkusen last summer from PSG and after taking some time to adapt to the Bundesliga, has become an influential figure under Peter Boaz.
He has averaged 0.30 goals per 90 and 0.22 assists per 90 this term, not figures that match Sancho's output or Sane's, while his xG90 of 0.24 isn't that of an elite-level wide player.
What Diaby is, though, is a creator. His xA90 this season is 0.32, he also completes 4.20 dribbles per 90 and attempts 4.42 crosses per 90.
Importantly, too, he is left-footed and has been used regularly on the left flank where he can beat an opponent and send a cross into the box, exactly like Sane has done countless times at the Etihad.
Diaby is still raw and his game needs to be refined but Guardiola could mould him into an effective long-term replacement for the German star.
Harvey Barnes (Leicester City)
The left-field option in our list. Barnes is an important part of the Leicester side under Brendan Rodgers and has the ability to become an elite-level wide forward.This season the 22-year-old has contributed to a Leicester goal 0.60 times per 90, a figure not far above his expected goal contribution per 90 of 0.55.
For context, Sane's expected goal contribution per 90 during the 2018/19 season was 0.60, and that was playing for the eventual champions.
There are other areas of Barnes' game that are impressive. He averages 4.83 touches in the opposition box per 90, the 12th-most of any Premier League attacker, and completes 3.53 dribbles per 90.
He doesn't deliver too many crosses, only attempting 1.89 per 90, but again that is down to the tactical demands placed upon him by Rodgers, who prefers possession to be recycled and the ball worked into the penalty area.
Barnes, like Sancho, wouldn't be a chalk-on-the-boots winger, something which Sane has proven himself more than capable of being. But the England Under-21 international has an abundance of potential and also ticks the homegrown box.
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