<p class="title">Manchester City winger Leroy Sane says the knee ligament injury that has wrecked his season is "the longest and hardest" fitness problem of his career.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sane has been sidelined since sustaining the devastating knee injury against Liverpool in the Community Shield in August.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The 24-year-old German has yet to play a first-team game since then and he admits the road to recovery has been mentally and physically gruelling.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It was the hardest and longest injury that I've ever had in my career," Sane told Manchester City's website on Wednesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It is difficult, especially the first day after the surgery because you can't move at all and that's not something any of us athletes are used to.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"You have to push yourself every day because you know it's a long rehab, but it is a good opportunity to work more on other weaknesses and that's why I took it as a chance to recover well and come back strong."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sane returned to training towards the end of January and has tested his comeback with some playing time in City's under-23s side.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He was hoping to return to Premier League action when the season was suspended due to the coronavirus.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sane, who had been strongly linked with Bayern Munich before the injury, has thanked his team-mates for their support during his rehabilitation.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ilkay Gundogan and Benjamin Mendy also experienced long absences due to knee problems in their City careers and their advice was especially helpful.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The whole team supported me, of course, but I was especially talking to Gundogan and Mendy a little bit more about the injury, what they did, what could happen and their experience with everything," Sane said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It helped me a lot to know how certain stuff feels and what can happen. It helped me and I'm very pleased that they pushed me along with that."</p>
<p class="title">Manchester City winger Leroy Sane says the knee ligament injury that has wrecked his season is "the longest and hardest" fitness problem of his career.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sane has been sidelined since sustaining the devastating knee injury against Liverpool in the Community Shield in August.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The 24-year-old German has yet to play a first-team game since then and he admits the road to recovery has been mentally and physically gruelling.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It was the hardest and longest injury that I've ever had in my career," Sane told Manchester City's website on Wednesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It is difficult, especially the first day after the surgery because you can't move at all and that's not something any of us athletes are used to.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"You have to push yourself every day because you know it's a long rehab, but it is a good opportunity to work more on other weaknesses and that's why I took it as a chance to recover well and come back strong."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sane returned to training towards the end of January and has tested his comeback with some playing time in City's under-23s side.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He was hoping to return to Premier League action when the season was suspended due to the coronavirus.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sane, who had been strongly linked with Bayern Munich before the injury, has thanked his team-mates for their support during his rehabilitation.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ilkay Gundogan and Benjamin Mendy also experienced long absences due to knee problems in their City careers and their advice was especially helpful.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The whole team supported me, of course, but I was especially talking to Gundogan and Mendy a little bit more about the injury, what they did, what could happen and their experience with everything," Sane said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It helped me a lot to know how certain stuff feels and what can happen. It helped me and I'm very pleased that they pushed me along with that."</p>