Welcome to the summer silly season! And of course, you can’t say “summer transfer window” at Manchester United and not talk Jadon Sancho. The latest updates claim that United are in the final stages of negotiation with Borussia Dortmund, and that “Here We Go” time could be arriving soon.
The 21-year-old English winger making a move to United has never been closer than it is right now, and although we’ve said that multiple times before, this time it is much closer than any of those previous times. It appears the fee has actually been agreed upon now, and now it’s just about ironing out the final details in payment structure.
Jadon Sancho has never been so close to join Manchester United. ? #Sancho
Gap now reducing between #MUFC official proposal and Borussia Dortmund price tag after further talks.
Deal not signed/completed yet – but progressing to final negotiation stages.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 25, 2021
According to the Daily Mirror, United have reached an agreement in principle with Dortmund for £75m – plus an extra £5m in add-ons. So £80m in total for a player that United have been chasing for well over a year or two. It didn’t happen last summer, as United were not willing to meet BVB’s £110m price tag.
Is Sancho really worth it? Well, his stats and performances at Dortmund certainly say so, but Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate begs to differ. Jadon Sancho didn’t even play at Euro 2020 until the third match, and he only got a few minutes at the very end.
Maybe that will change in the knockout round?
And the arrival of Sancho could see some offloading of players in order to offset the new expenditures. That could mean Anthony Martial or Donny van de Beek, or both, according to an ESPN report today. Rob Dawson writes in ESPN FC that:
“Enquiries made by agents and intermediaries over the availability of players like Anthony Martial and Donny van de Beek have been met with a response from United that “every player has a realistic valuation”.
What a difference a year makes for both these United players. Today is one year to the day that Martial scored his first and only hat trick against AFC Bournemouth. Now he’s deemed surplus to requirements as his 20/21 season didn’t go nearly as well as his previous campaigns at United.
Tottenham Hotspur, a club he’s been previously linked to, are said to be interested once again. As for Van de Beek, he endured a very rough first season at Old Trafford. Given that he cost £40m, just last summer, and he hardly ever played, one has to ask, seriously what are you guys doing?
Why did you buy this guy from Ajax, and almost never utilize him, only to jettison him the very next summer?
Sure, it looks like United are undergoing some kind of rebuild, but what’s the actual specific plan? Where is this all going?
It’s head-scratching to say the least.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, 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,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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