I tamed Liverpool and battled Pep Guardiola - in the end I had to leave Man City

Leroy Sane has a major regret over his four-year spell at Manchester City - but it is nothing he did on the pitch and is unconnected to his controversial exit.

"I was young. Today I would make a different decision," he said in 2021, in quotes that have resurfaced this week. "I was someone who had to run into the wall at least once, even if it hurt, in order to learn from it, especially at a young age."

The regret in question is his full-back tattoo of his goal scored in the Champions League knockout defeat against Monaco, which took four days to complete. It is four years since Sane left City, and five since he played a game for them - yet he remains a fan favourite at the Etihad.

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There is an annual rumour that he could return - generating a wave of excitement every summer - although he has remained at Bayern Munich each time. Maybe that is because of how anti-climactic his spell at City ended.

Signed in 2016 for around £37m from Schalke Sane settled relatively quickly at City, scoring some memorable goals including that strike against Monaco. He kicked on in his second season, winning the PFA Young Player of the Year award as City won the title in record fashion.

It was his strike against Liverpool in January 2019 that separated the sides at the end of the season - a typical Sane goal for the pace, precision and brutally-simplistic nature of the finish. He would score four goals in eight games against Jurgen Klopp's side, averaging a strike every 40 minutes, including a brace in a destructive 5-0 win.

His sublime free kick in the Champions League against former club Schalke,