It was the shot heard round the Manchester United transfer rumor world on Monday. Borussia Dortmund Director Michael Zorc put his foot down and said that Jadon Sancho is still a BVB player and will be for the entire season.
It was a hard line stance, and maybe it was taken as a negotiating tactic; or maybe it really is a final decision. Yesterday, at this link, we looked at some of the contingency plans for United. Today we’ll cover a few more. Clicked where highlighted for past articles on said player.
Ousmane Dembele, FC Barcelona
When Zorc made his statement, social media came alive with references to another time the BVB boss declared no sale of a wing based attacking player, but then later accepted an offer he just couldn’t refuse. That is FC Barcleona’s Dembele, who attracting interest from United claims ESPN.
As ESPN FC points out, Dembele “has not played a competitive match since November and underwent surgery on his hamstring in February.” And overall, he’s been essentially a flop with the Catalan club, because his stint has been so injury riddled.
So this is a risky proposition to say the least.
Raul Jimenez, Wolverhampton Wanderers
Another high priced player who has been linked with the club for a very long time already. Given that they’re both Mexican internationals and centre forwards, this potential transfer has been likened a lot to Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez.
While Jimenez isn’t a guy who plays primarily out wide, he is someone who adds depth in the final third, and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can shift his attacking players to include him and maximize talent.
Federico Chiesa, Fiorentina
Here’s a name that pops up in United transfer rumors from time to time. Just yesterday, Football Italia brought him up and wrote that “Fiorentina made it clear they will only sell for the right price, believed to be in the region of €60-70m.”
The 22-year-old is versatile, and he had a very productive season, despite the team itself struggling quite a bit. Still expensive, but not a bad consolation prize at all
Standing Pat with What they Already Have
As we just wrote in the last column, there are silver linings in the dark cloud of missing out on Sancho.
If United are to meet Dortmund’s demands, then the price would mark a new transfer fee record, for both United and England as a whole. Is Jadon Sancho really worth 120 million Euro? Now think about what a great season Mason Greenwood had and ask yourself that question again.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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