Man City boss Pep Guardiola snubbed €8.5m loan move for Coutinho
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola rejected the chance to bring Philippe Coutinho back to England, according to a report.
After Leroy Sane picked up a knee injury, which could see him miss the entire season, City were offered the former Liverpool man, claims Marca.
The Spanish outlet though report that Guardiola was not keen on the Brazilian and in fact passed up the opportunity to sign the attacker on loan.
Instead Coutinho ended up at Bayern Munich on loan, the German side that were ironically in pursuit of Sane all summer.
The Catalan club revealed that Bayern will pay an €8.5m loan fee for Coutinho and cover the player’s wages.
Barca also report that the agreement sees the Bundesliga side hold an option to buy the player for €120m, presumably at the end of his season-long loan.
The Bundesliga giants previously had declared their interest in the City attacker, but Guardiola had always stated he wanted to keep the 23-year-old and was hopeful of doing so.
Sane then damaged his anterior cruciate ligament during City’s Community Shield win over Liverpool at the start of August, which came as a hammer blow to Guardiola.
The player has since undergone surgery and has started his long road to recovery, but it looks as though City will be without the dynamic forward for the majority, if not all of the campaign.
City have not put a timescale on the player’s return but Ilkay Gundogan and Benjamin Mendy have both had seasons ruined by similar problems in recent years.
Sane has been offered a new contract at the Etihad Stadium but has not yet signed. He has two years left on his present deal.
