Arsenal's search for wide reinforcements has supposedly led Mikel Arteta to a former flame, as The Telegraph claims that they are considering a swoop for Bayern Munich attacker Leroy Sane on a free transfer.
The Germany international worked closely with the Gunners boss during their time at Manchester City before his homeland came calling, since when he has achieved astounding domestic success in Munich.
However, Sane's contract at the Allianz Arena now has just a few weeks left to run, and if no agreement is found to extend his stay, his agent will no doubt be inundated with calls from interested clubs.
Arsenal may have to fend off competition from North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur to land the experienced attacker, a task made a bit tougher by the Lilywhites qualifying for Champions League football.
The Arteta pull could yet work its magic, though, and here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at how Sane compares to Arsenal's current wingers in Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Ethan Nwaneri and Gabriel Martinelli, using statistics from FBref from the 2024-25 domestic season.
GOALSCORING/SHOOTING
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Before delving into the deeper stuff, a bit of critical context; Trossard played the most minutes of the five in the 2024-25 league season with 2,546, Martinelli was second with 2,290, Saka third (1,729), Sane fourth (1,637) and Nwaneri the least (895).
Despite playing the second-fewest minutes in the quintet, Sane bagged more goals in the Bundesliga than the current Arsenal four did in the Premier League, managing 11 strikes from his 30 appearances in the German top flight.
Meanwhile, Arsenal failed to have a single player score at least 10 in a league season for the first time in 101 years; Trossard and Martinelli bagged eight each, while Saka netted six and Nwaneri four.
Interestingly, every one of the quintet bar Saka over-performed their Expected Goals (xG) from the 2024-25 season; Sane managed 11 goals from an xG of 10.2, but the biggest difference belonged to Nwaneri, who came up with four efforts from just 1.2xG.
Sane also managed more shots on targets than his four Arsenal counterparts, finding the mark 29 times from his 67 attempts for an accuracy rate of 43.3%, putting him second in the list.
The only Arsenal winger who managed a higher share of shots on target was Martinelli, and even then the difference was miniscule - a mere 0.3%, firing 24 shots on target from 55 attempts for a rate of 43.6%.
However, Martinelli actually averaged the fewest amount of shots per 90 minutes out of the five (2.16), whereas Sane averaged the most with 3.68, as well as just over 1.5 shots on target per 90.
When it comes to average goals per shots on target, Sane's 0.38 puts him level with Trossard, while Nwaneri leads the way with 0.44.
PLAYMAKING
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While Sane focused on scoring, his teammates shouldered more of the creative burden at Bayern Munich, and the German only set up five goals during the 2024-25 Bundesliga campaign.
That is still more than Martinelli (four) and Nwaneri (two) managed, but fewer than Trossard (seven) and Saka (10), with the latter demonstrating ridiculous consistency when it comes to finding an Arsenal head from corners.
Saka also tops the five-player charts for shot-creating actions per game with 6.09, although Sane does sit second over Trossard in that particular column, managing 4.18 per 90 minutes compared to the Belgian's 3.29.
The former Manchester City man also produced more goal-creating actions than Trossard, Martinelli and Nwaneri in the last league campaign with nine, although Saka still heavily trumps him in that category with a standout 23.
However, Sane sits second-last when it comes to progressive carries over the course of the season with 75, while touchline specialist Martinelli dominated that column with 124, 28 more than second-placed Saka (96).
The German did manage more progressive passes than Martinelli and Nwaneri with 64, but fewer than Saka and Trossard, the latter of whom came up with a staggering 101 in the 2024-25 Premier League.
ALL-AROUND PLAY
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Goalkeeper, defender, midfielder or attacker, you have to know how to pass the ball, and Sane actually tops his four Arsenal counterparts in that regard with an 82.5% completion rate in the 2024-25 Bundesliga season.
Over in England, Nwaneri completed 80.5% of his passes in the last Premier League campaign, while Saka came in at just over 75%, Trossard just under 75% and Martinelli just above 71%.
All in all, Sane completed a nice round 750 passes in the German top flight last term, and he also performed far better than Saka, Nwaneri, Trossard and Martinelli when it came to picking out a teammate from range.
Indeed, Sane completed 84.9% of his medium passes - anything from 15 to 30 yards - and 64.4% of his long balls; in the latter category, Nwaneri was second of the five with 51.4%, while Saka and Trossard failed to hit the 50% mark.
However, the ex-Man City attacker only succeeded with 39% of his take-ons, a lower success rate than Trossard, Saka and Nwaneri, who easily led the way with a 59.7% success rate.
Sane was tackled 55% of the time when attempting a take-on, the joint-most out of the five players along with Martinelli, while the ever-evasive Nwaneri was only successfully challenged 30.6% of the time.
Disciplinary-wise, Sane only collected two yellow cards in the Bundesliga, while Nwaneri and Martinelli picked up one in the Premier League, Saka three and Trossard four, as well as his nonsensical red card away to Manchester City.
DEFENDING
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Sane's defensive metrics are unlikely to make or break his prospective move to Arsenal - or any interested party for that matter - but he would no doubt have to do his fair share of helping out in the rearguard under Arteta.
The 29-year-old won 15 of his 23 tackles in the 2024-25 Bundesliga season; an impressive statistic at a first glance, but Saka, Nwaneri, Martinelli and Trossard all succeeded in winning possession back over 50% of the time too.
However, Sane made more of his tackles in the attacking third than any of the Arsenal four with 11, and he successfully challenged 52.2% of dribblers, only trailing Saka's 54.2% in that regard.
None of the five made more than 10 interceptions domestically last season, although Sane's seven is second to Trossard's nine, and his 82 recoveries is also second to the hard-working Belgian's 104.
Doing most of his defensive and ball-winning work further up the field, Sane made just three clearances in the last German top-flight campaign, while Martinelli and Trossard made 19 and 18 respectively.
Off the ground, the 29-year-old was the only member of the quintet to win more than 50% of his aerial duels - not too much of a surprise given he is the tallest of the five at 6ft - but he was involved in just 13 battles while airborne; only Nwaneri (12) contested fewer.
Ben Knapton
