Sabitzer on ‘Deadline Day’ from Bayern Munich to Manchester United

Styria came to Munich in the summer of 2021 with coach Julian Nagelsmann from Leipzig, where he was unable to establish himself as a regular player. His situation with the German record champion would have worsened if, as expected, his compatriot Konrad Leimer had also moved from Leipzig to Munich in the summer.

With Christian Eriksen out for a long time, United were looking for a replacement in midfield. The Dane is expected to miss his club until the end of April or early May due to injury. Eriksen injured his ankle after being brought down in Saturday’s FA Cup match against Reading (3-1).

Sabitzer signed with Bayern as the coach’s dream player. After a difficult first season, it looked like he would play a more prominent role in his second season. Recently, however, he has had to settle for an extra player role in a heavily busy midfield.

Munich signed Joao Cancelo from Manchester City on Tuesday. Before the full-back, Bayern Munich brought in goalkeeper Jan Sommer from Borussia Mönchengladbach and Daley Blind, who was recently without a club, in the winter. Sabitzer is Bayern’s first departure this winter. English media initially said that Chelsea were also interested in the Austrian because midfielder Jorginho had moved to Premier League leaders Arsenal for €15m. In place of the Italian European champion, not Sabitzer will come, but Argentine world champion Enzo Fernandez from Benfica Lisbon – for a British record amount of 106.8 million pounds sterling (121 million euros).

While in England, Italy and France transfer time ended at midnight and in Spain at 8pm, in Germany it actually ended at 6pm. Here, on the last day, an unsuccessful transfer caused the greatest excitement. Former Real Madrid star Isco was already in Union Berlin for a medical, but the commitment fell through at the last second. The player and the club accused each other of not adhering to the agreements.