Jadon Sancho has no future at Old Trafford despite returning to Manchester United this summer after Chelsea chose not to sign him on a permanent deal.
INEOS are desperate to sell Sancho; Ruben Amorim has no place in his squad, nor any desire to make space, for the 25-year-old winger; and Sancho himself is set on finding a new club this summer.
So why is a permanent exit proving so difficult to find, even with a major European side pushing hard to sign the former Borussia Dortmund star?
Roma agree deal
AS Roma have struck an agreement with United to sign Sancho on loan with an obligation to buy worth £20 million based on “easy conditions” to achieve, Fabrizio Romano revealed last week.
There was confidence in the Italian capital that the Red Devils would accept this proposal – with today’s edition of
Corriere dello Sport revealing Roma have “reached an agreement” with their English counterparts.
However, Sancho is yet to give his green light to the deal with Roma unlikely to be able to match his wage packet at Old Trafford, believed to be worth around £250,000 a week with twelve months remaining on his deal with United.
It was a similar hurdle which prevented Chelsea from converting their loan deal for Sancho into a permanent one as the Blues refused to match his contract in Manchester.
But Roma have taken the next step in negotiations to convince Sancho’s his future lies in Serie A: their manager has held direct talks with the United winger.
The manager steps in
Corriere dello Sport reports Gian Gasperini, who assumed the helm at the Stadio Olimpico this summer, has “stepped into” negotiations to lure Sancho to Rome.
“Gasperini himself has stepped into the negotiation and had a direct phone call with the English winger to convince him to accept the Giallorossi cause.
“The coach explained to him the central role he would have in his project, naturally talking about the work he carried out at Atalanta with his attackers and how much they improved with his ideas and tactics.”
Sancho is said to have “appreciated the direct contact” from Gasperini but has “asked for a few more days before making a final decision.”
United will be as desperate as Roma for the 25-year-old to accept the proposal, but it feels increasingly likely that some level of payoff will have to occur in order for the deal to be facilitated. Whether INEOS are willing to accept this remains to be seen.
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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.
