Jadon Sancho is willing to take a step he has so far refused to make in an effort to leave Manchester United to re-join Borussia Dortmund this summer, according to a report from Germany.
The Worst of the Worst
In a long line of failed transfers at Old Trafford in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson malaise, Sancho may just be the worst of the bunch.
Signed for £73 million from Dortmund after a protracted transfer saga stretching across two years, the skilful winger arrived amidst a triumphant fanfare under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2021.
Sancho was expected to form the final piece of an exciting trio of attacking youngsters alongside Carrington graduates Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood. But theory rarely translates into practice in football, particularly at the Theatre of Dreams.
Four years on, for a variety of well-documented reasons, Sancho is the only player still at the club.
United are desperate to shift the 25-year-old this summer as he only has twelve months remaining on his contract, believed to be worth around £250,000 a week.
But the sense of desperation primarily stems from the fact that Sancho has been a complete disaster of a signing from the moment he arrived in Manchester – a need to rid the club of a player who represents everything rotten with United in recent years.
Long-standing issues with professionalism, which were present in Germany, reared their ugly head, most notably under Erik ten Hag. But Sancho’s poor mentality off the pitch is matched by a lack of physicality on it, with the winger struggling with speed and intensity of Premier League football, despite having shone in Manchester City’s academy as a youngster.
At no point during Sancho’s time with United has he produced anything close to the standout performances which made him one of Europe’s most exciting attacking prospects with Dortmund.
Sancho would not be alone in this drastic underperformance after joining United in a big-money move, as Antony and Rasmus Hojlund can attest, but at least these two players care about their struggles; Sancho does not appear to care one iota whether he succeeds or fails in a Red shirt, so long as he cashes his exorbitant cheque at the end of the month.
A Compromise on Money
Sancho spent last year on loan at Chelsea with a buy-obligation clause worth between £20-25 million if they finished 15th or higher in the league.
After confirming a fourth place finish on the final day of the season, the obligation to buy was set at £25 million and Chelsea entered negotiations with Sancho to complete the deal.
But the 25-year-old’s salary demands proved unworkable with the wage structure at Stamford Bridge and, thanks to the inclusion of a £5 million cancellation fee in the deal, Chelsea chose to active the clause and sent the winger back to Old Trafford.
Sancho had previously spoken of his joy at joining the west London club and returning to the capital where he had grown up. But this evidently was not sufficient enough to give up his wage packet in Manchester at a club he has actively pushed to leave.
Sancho returned to United last month but has been excluded from Ruben Amorim’s pre-season plans and made to train separately with other members of the ‘bomb squad’ – a list of five players with no future at Old Trafford who the club are actively looking to sell, including Sancho, Alejandro Garnacho, Marcus Rashford, Antony and Tyrell Malacia.
Sancho has been linked with a move to Italy with Serie A heavyweights Juventus and Napoli exploring a deal to sign the wantaway winger.
Dortmund had also expressed interest in another reunion with their former pupil after Sancho returned to the Signal Iduna Park on loan in the second half of the 2023/24 campaign. But Die Schwarzgelben deemed a move too expensive due to Sancho’s wages and talks did not progress.
However, Sancho is now willing to take a drastic pay cut – a step he has consistently refused to make since joining United – to seal a return to Dortmund, according to German newspaper Bild.
The report states he is prepared to give up half of his salary to complete the move and has communicated this to Dortmund’s sporting director, Sebastian Kehl.
Sancho “knows his next move has to be a good one” after years of subpar performances and is intent on a “return to his feel-good club” to recapture the form he last showed in a yellow and black shirt.
United have slashed their asking price to around £17 million – £8m less than Chelsea were prepared to pay – as they seek to force through a permanent exit this summer. Now, finally, this willingness to compromise on money appears to be matched by the player himself.
Featured image Julian Finney via Getty Images
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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.
