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Manchester City's Leroy Sane says he is not playing for individual prizes

Manchester City's Leroy Sane is among the favourites for the Young Player of the Year but the winger insists he's not playing for individual honours.

Sane has been a key part of City's extraordinary season with 12 goals and 15 assists in all competitions.

He's already improved on his contribution in his first season following his £37 million switch from Schalke in 2016 and believes he will get even better under manager Pep Guardiola.

"To be honest, I haven't thought about it at all. I'm not looking right now that I can win something for myself. Not at all," he told The National.

"In some other interview I was asked if I'm thinking about the Ballon d'Or. It's way too early, especially a trophy like this. It would be nice for me if I could reach it in future, but not now.

"When I arrived I wanted to be settled in Manchester, to improve on my weaknesses and, with Pep Guardiola, I'm looking step-to-step.

"This season I've scored more goals than last season and then the next step would be really good for me if I could keep doing it for this season and then next season hopefully score more."

Sane is only behind teammate Kevin De Bruyne for most assists in the Premier League and he believes the Belgian is a potential Ballon d'Or winner.

"He's a really special player, an unbelievable player," he said. "The way he plays, how he shoots, how he passes the ball. It's really nice to see it.

"Even in the games in training, I'm like: 'Okay, how did he pass the ball right now? How did he do that?' He has a really good chance to achieve it. I hope he will do it."

Sane is focused on continuing to improve and believes he has the ideal manager in Guardiola.

"For me, he is the perfect coach because he sees where your weaknesses are, where you can improve, and he tries to teach it and make you better," Sane added.

"Every young player likes playing for him, especially us now. All the players, all the team, can say 'yeah, he's made me better' and this is really important for every player.

"From day one until now, it doesn't matter: even if I improved on a certain thing he always sees where there's a weakness. If I make a mistake he says 'hey, look, you have to do it like this'. He's reminds you how to do it. This is really important, really good for the young players."