Leroy Sane has revealed that his new team-mate Joshua Kimmich was the Bayern Munich player who pestered him the most to join the club from Manchester City.
Sane finally joined Bayern last month after a year of speculation, with City receiving €49million up front plus a possible €11million in add-ons.
City were happy with the deal they managed to get after Bayern's lengthy pursuit was at last brought to a close, but it was a different story last summer when the German champions' brazen public charm offensive frustrated the club.
Several star players and high-profile club officials all discussed the potential transfer publicly and the then manager Nico Kovac was forced to apologise after saying he was 'confident' the deal would be done.
One of the players who spoke of his desire to see the winger join him at the Alianz Arena was midfielder Kimmich, and Sane has revealed that he was also constantly speaking of the transfer behind closed doors as well.
"The most annoying one was Joshua Kimmich," Sane said at his official unveiling on Thursday when asked which player had been the most persistent.
"It seemed that he wanted to call me every day and ask how the situation is. Everyone was behind this transfer and that was an important point."
It's clear that Bayern's obvious desire to bring Sane back to Germany was one of the big factors in convincing him in leaving City after four years at the Etihad.
In an interview with SportBild on Wednesday Sane revealed how the Bayern hierarchy helped persuade him to join the club as he spoke to manager Hansi Flick on the phone before signing, and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic had been involved in the transfer 'from the start'.
"I know Hansi Flick from the under-21 national team. I'm aware of how he works, and I know his personality. It's a very good fit. We talked about what he expects of the team and of me, what the goals are, what the work looks like in general. I was delighted that Hansi Flick will be my coach. That was a very good phone conversation."
And on Salihamidzic's involvement, he said: “He was behind the transfer from the first moment and was not put off by anything. I'm grateful for that.
"He showed me how the club works, which team it has in mind, how the way looks. I immediately noticed: I know a lot of boys here, I fit in very well here. And I wanted to be part of the successful Bayern path.”
