Bayern has read this all wrong.

They’ve known forever they needed to replace Robben and Ribery

Moreover, everyone else knows it.

Bayern also waited way too long to address the situation, and when they had that oh shit moment, they went out of character and began tapping up players, and doing some unseemly things in public.

Again, because they are desperate and everyone knows it.

The problem is, they went after Chelsea and City players tapping them up.

Chelsea and especially City don’t need the money. Moreover, they are not desperate.

See the Hazard to Real situation. Chelsea was always going to sell Hazard, but it was going to be on their terms. Eventually Real paid up and it got done.

Sane to Bayern will most likely happen by Thursday. But only when the club that is desperate, meets the price/valuation of the non desperate club.

Bayern is desperate here, everyone knows it. They will have to pay a premium to get Sane. Not because City needs the money, but because that’s their valuation of the player. Instead of tapping up and leaking done deals at 90M. The desperate club should pay up and get it over the line. Publicly tapping Sane up isn’t going to reduce the price at this point. It doesn’t matter how many Bild hot takes are printed. Everyone knows Bayern is desperate. They are going to have to pay a big premium to City at this point.

Balls in Bayern’s court. They nozzed it up waiting so long. Now they will have to pay for their mistakes. And all the tapping up in the world won’t change the price. Bayern isn’t going to get Sane cheap, because City isn’t desperate, Bayern is.

One of the City reporters recently said Bayern started reaching out to City back in May. Who knows what's actually happened, because half the reports are an offer was never made and the other half say Bayern has been trying all summer.

The money doesn't even really matter, and both Bayern and City know it. City probably has a bit more pressure money wise (because of FFP nagging) but Bayern's numbers are public and everybody knows they're sitting on a mountain of cash.

he knows about as much about City as I do about astrophysics.

They should have had real replacements for these guys, on the squad, before August of 2018.

That's what I meant by waiting too long. They waited until right near the end of their tenures at Bayern, which was problematic.

Doing the dance around Robben and Franck. Trying to keep them happy while knowing they were past it. Most of the supporters agreed it should have happened earlier.

I get that Bayern wants to be different than other clubs, and treat the veterans like family. Especially two that have embraced Munich. But this came at the expense of the club's long term health.

It's been fascinating to watch, and is not what I had come to expect from Bayern, and their historically clinical transfer dealings.

The past 12 months have been anything but.

He probably should have been sold last year or the year before.

He will ride the pine until the end of his career. He will retire there as his wife is a champion horse jumper. They have a huge barn.

He’s Bavarian through and through.

Like Reus at Dortmund, he’s staying put.

Some of it is at the top. Uli clearly wanted to make a splash before his exit. Bull in a china shop.

Imagine most Bayern fans agree.

The only leverage anyone has is if Sane himself handed in a transfer request.

That he hasn’t is interesting, because that’s the only leverage anyone from the Bayern side can leverage.

That said, I suspect such a request would get the same response. Sounds good. Tell them to hand over 140M and it’s done.