MANCHESTER -- Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said Leroy Sane's future is out of his hands as Bayern Munich continue their pursuit of the winger.
Sane has just 18 months left on his contract and has been on Bayern's wish list since the summer.
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The Bundesliga giants have indicated they will wait until the end of the season to make their next move and Guardiola suggested there is nothing he can do to convince the Germany international, who is recovering from a knee injury, to stay at the Etihad Stadium.
"It's a question for Leroy, his agents and the club, I'm not involved in that," Guardiola told a news conference on Friday.
"What's important now is that he has to recover well, that's the most important thing, and after that he knows what we think of him, that we believe in him and after that it depends on him and the club.
"I was the guy who pushed for the club and convinced him to come here even though he didn't play regularly for Schalke. I have no doubts about him and his quality but what I've said many times is each one has his own family, desires, dreams and, above that, I cannot do anything else."
Sane has returned to training after more than five months out with a knee injury but is still not ready to be considered for a first team comeback.
Defender Aymeric Laporte also suffered a knee ligament injury in August and despite suffering his after Sane, he is further ahead in his recovery, although Sunday's trip to Aston Villa will come too soon.
"He's training every day, and he finished training good, with good feeling, he feels no pain and after training he feels good, that's good news," Guardiola said.
"I don't know when he'll be ready to start to play some minutes but it's closer than last month. I wait to see what the doctor says.
"What I see on the pitch is he moves well, so his movement, four or five months is a long time, he's not a small guy like [Raheem] Sterling, who recovers quick, he needs a little bit more time, but he moves really well so I think the operation was good and we'll see what the doctor says about when he's going to play."