Schalke had no choice but to sell Sane – Heidel

Berlin (AFP) – Manchester City’s huge offer to buy Leroy Sane left Bundesliga side Schalke 04 with no choice but to sell their rising Germany star, according to his now ex-club.

Sane, 20, moved for a reported £37 million ($48m, 43m euros) and signed a five-year deal with Pep Guardiola’s side, who kick off the new Premier League season on Saturday against Sunderland.

And Schalke’s sporting director Christian Heidel said “there was no alternative” to letting Sane go, with Schalke unable to match the financial offer City made for a player who had only made 47 appearances in the Bundesliga and played just 11 minutes at Euro 2016.

“We’ve lost a huge talent, who is very clear in his head and with whom I had many a pleasant conversation with,” Heidel told German daily Bild.

“But he wanted to go and for Schalke it was better, at the end of the day, that he went.

“Of course, I am sorry to see him go, but my task was to generate as much money as possible.

“That doesn’t mean, however, that anyone who comes to me and expresses a wish to leave can also go.”

Markus Weinzierl’s Schalke, who have spent big money on the young Swiss international forward Breel Embolo from Basel, begin their Bundesliga campaign at Eintracht Frankfurt on August 27.