Jadon Sancho has become the classic “man, WHAT are YOU doing?!” If you want to name an individual footballer who just doesn’t seem to be aware of what his actual individual worth is as a player, it’s the Manchester United winger. Sancho has two different opportunities to leave United, and restart his career, but he’s blocked both.
The move to AS Roma seemed to be a good option for all involved, as the Serie A side offered £20 million for the 25-year-old English international, with United ready to accept the bid.
🚨🚫 Jadon Sancho’s agent also informed AS Roma of their decision not to accept the proposal.
Sancho wants to consider other clubs’ proposals and AS Roma will now look at different options.
Man Utd hope for similar proposals to follow, around £20m as they were ready to accept. pic.twitter.com/TX0jRmUZc0
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 18, 2025
However, Sancho shot it down, and that has been confirmed by his agent.
Sancho makes £250,000 a week in wages at United, and will continue to do so for the final year that he has left on his deal. Apparently, Roma wouldn’t match that, and Sancho is actually not sold on the idea of moving to the eternal city. (The Mirror has more on this).
So this move has collapsed, which would potentially open the door for Turkish Super Lig side Besiktas, who are interested. However, Sancho is not interested in moving to Turkey at this stage of his career.
However, don’t be shocked if that changes, if Sept. 1, at 7pm BST comes and he still doesn’t have a place to play. The Turkish window closes on Sept. 13 and Sancho might drop his standards at that point, if he’s placed in that situation.
Or he may not, as his wage demands keep kiboshing all his potential opportunities to get on with his career. He went out on loan for the back half of 2023-24 at the club United bought him from, Borussia Dortmund (£73 million in 2021).
However, BVB were not interested in bringing him back. Chelsea struck a deadline day deal last summer, to bring Sancho on loan for entire season, with an obligation to buy. Chelsea ultimately elected to pay the £5m fee to break the contract, instead of making the Sancho acquisition a permanent one.
So once again, Sancho had a chance to make a fresh start, but he couldn’t do it. Its been reported that again, salary demands got in the way. If you’re counting that’s at least three, maybe four times that Sancho had a chance to exit the club he doesn’t want to play for, and he rejected it.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter