The ‘big three’ in the Saudi Pro League – Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al Nassr – are all “interested” in signing Jadon Sancho with Manchester United desperate to shift the 25-year-old this summer, according to a report.
Sancho is set to return to Old Trafford at the end of this month after Chelsea chose to pay a penalty fee to avoid signing the winger on a permanent deal.
Sancho swapped Manchester for London on deadline day in last summer’s transfer window to join the Blues on a season-long loan. An obligation clause was included if Chelsea finished 15th or higher in the Premier League table worth between £20-25 million, depending on their final position.
Chelsea confirmed a fourth-placed finish on the final day of the season, securing Champions League qualification in the process, which set the obligation at £25 million. However, the West London club included a cancellation fee – worth £5 million – which they could pay to renege on this deal.
And, after failed negotiations with Sancho’s representatives over a permanent switch to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea activated this option to send him back to United at the end of his loan deal.
Sancho was unwilling to accept the incentivised pay structure Chelsea have implemented in recent years, preferring to remain on his wage packet at Old Trafford – thought to be worth around £300,000 a week.
Cole Palmer, Chelsea’s most important player and one of the best forwards in the Premier League, earns around £130,000 a week at Stamford Bridge by comparison.
The Mirror reveals United were even “brought into the discussions” to see if INEOS would “pay off some of the wages left on [Sancho’s] deal” to help facilitate the move to Chelsea. But Old Trafford officials “opted not to intervene” despite the club’s desperation to shift the winger permanently.
If Sancho is unwilling to compromise on this salary, a permanent exit from Manchester will prove extremely difficult.
The Mirror contends “no top European clubs are going to consider signing the player on those wages and Sancho has shown by refusing to take a pay cut at Chelsea he still wants to earn what he gets at Old Trafford.”
As such, the report reveals, this means a switch to Saudi Arabia is the most “likely destination this summer” for Sancho with Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al Nassr all considering a swoop.
The three clubs, who finished first (Al-Ittihad), second (Al-Hilal), and third (Al Nassr) in the Saudi Pro League this season, are “interested” in striking a deal with United with Ruben Amorim having “no intention of reintegrating the player into his squad”.
Sancho is even reported to have “links to high-profile figures” in Saudi Arabia who could “help broker a deal”, further strengthening a possibility which INEOS would consider one of the best deals of the summer if it materialises.
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Darragh Fox
Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
