Leroy Sane: What Makes the Barcelona and Manchester City Target so Valuable?

Over the last few weeks, world media has been abuzz with reports regarding the future of Schalke starlet Leroy Sane. The winger, who celebrated his 20th birthday earlier this week, has been linked with clubs around Europe. And if the rumors are to be believed, he'll fetch a princely sum if sold.

On Wednesday, L'Equipe (h/t Eduardo Fernandez-Abascal of the International Business Times) reported that Barcelona were prepared to activate a €37 million release clause, although Schalke general manager Horst Heldt and the player's agent were quick to deny (via ESPN's Stephan Uersfeld) the existence of such a clause.

Uersfeld's article cites Bild reports that claim Sane would prefer a move to Barca this summer but mention that Manchester City are willing to spend €55 million to convince him to move to the Etihad Stadium.

One way or another, it seems Sane will cost any potential suitor a small fortune. And yet, he's just the latest product of Schalke's world-class academy. Before him, Mesut Ozil was sold to Werder Bremen for €5 million. Ivan Rakitic fetched just €2.5 million. Schalke got a better deal with the sale of Manuel Neuer, who cost €30 million after bonuses, and Wolfsburg were willing to pay €36 million for Julian Draxler (all figures via Transfermarkt).

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Así fue el GOLAZO que le marco al R. Madrid en el Bernabeu la temporada pasada. https://t.co/a6Lb8DLwGt

— Orgullo Culé (@Orgullo_FCB) January 13, 2016"

Still among Schalke's valuable assets are Max Meyer, Donis Avdijaj and Leon Goretzka, among others, each of whom had superior success at youth level when compared side-to-side with Sane.

Meyer was named top player at the 2012 Under-17 European Championship, and Goretzka captained that team to the final; both were called up to Joachim Low's senior Germany team in May of 2014, at a younger age than Sane when he made his debut.

For his part, Avdijaj was superlative in the Schalke youth teams: he scored 44 goals and made 15 assists in 32 games for the under-17s in 2012-13, and in his U-17 and U-19 career, he found the net a whopping 76 times in just 69 games. Yet none of these young players are seriously valued on Sane's level.

So, what is it that make Sane so valuable? A sum of €55 million would, after all, make him the most expensive German player ever.

The key difference is that while many young players are bought and sold before having achieved anything of note, Sane has proven himself at the very highest level. It doesn't matter that he only ever scored two goals and made three assists in the under-17 Bundesliga, or that he only joined the German youth national team setup at under-19 level.

Far more important is the fact that he, barely 19 years of age, played with utmost confidence against Real Madrid last March. Brought on as a substitute after half an hour, the unproven talent scored a cracking goal from distance. In his Champions League debut, in an elimination match at the Santiago Bernabeu, he was arguably the best player on show.

Anyone who had seen Sane previously would not have been entirely surprised by the player's ability to elevate his game on the big stage. He'd been Schalke's man of the match against Chelsea in the UEFA Youth League in the previous season, despite being underaged at the time, and was his team's best player in the competition a few months prior to his masterclass against Real. He'd just been waiting for the spotlight.

Since his breakout match against Real, Sane has grown in confidence and become a key player for Schalke. Playing in all attacking midfield positions, his combined goals and assists tally stands at eight in 17 Bundesliga games this season. This is a modest number for a senior player, but it's noteworthy that two of his assists coming against league leaders Bayern Munich and runners-up Borussia Dortmund.

And for context, at about the same age, Ozil's figures for the first round of 2008-09 were nearly the same, with three goals and seven assists.

Critically, Sane has proven to be the kind of player who can do it all on his own if need be; unlike Ozil and Meyer, he's not as reliant on teammates to do what he needs in order to have an impact. Even in his youth, Sane is athletically gifted enough to explode past defenders, and his dribbling is quite refined: He can create play by himself.

In that regard, he's not very different from Raheem Sterling, who at the same age (in the fall campaign of 2013) had two goals and two assists in the Premier League as his star was beginning to grow at Liverpool. One-and-a-half years later, City were willing to pay €62.5 million for him.

In Sterling's case, City made an investment in a player who wasn't complete. And any club that signs Sane this summer will similarly be bringing in a player who has plenty of room to grow. With further development and experience, Sane has every bit of potential to become a reliable scorer and gain the tactical refinement to position himself well and move within the structure of a complex attacking system. But he's already a functional professional who's capable of putting in a shift.

It should be noted that the other key factor to Sane's pricing has little to do with football; it's marketing. Since selling future superstars Ozil and Rakitic for a combined €7.5 million, Schalke have learned a thing or two about salesmanship. They've used Sane's rising profile to gather momentum, and now his is perhaps the hottest name on the market this January. That's worth an extra €10-20 million in itself.

Looking to the long term, Sane may or may not become a superstar. Yet he looks likely to leave Gelsenkirchen for a record fee, even more than Arsenal paid for the established star that was Ozil. There's a premium to be paid for the next "big thing," and with it comes some risk.

But at this point, Sane is arguably the most exciting prospect in world football. That's something Europe's biggest clubs appear willing to spend on.

@Mr_Bundesliga