Manchester United have been given a boost in their pursuit of Jadon Sancho after football journalist Duncan Castles’ latest claims over the Borussia Dortmund sensation.
Formerly of Man City’s schoolboy setup, the 19-year-old has blossomed in Germany and is now a full England international with 11 caps, and he is certain to make the squad for this summer’s European Championships.
This season Sancho has scored 13 goals with 14 assists from his 21 Bundesliga appearances, after tallying 13 goals and 19 assists last term.
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The winger has regularly been linked with moves to United, Liverpool and Chelsea — and those reports heated up after Sky in Germany went big on claims that Sancho will leave Dortmund this summer.
“He will leave Dortmund this summer, that’s for sure,” Sky reporter Jesco von Eichmann said earlier this month. “It’s not clear to which club he will change.
“Manchester United is one of the big clubs that are interested, that I’ve heard.
“Michael Zorc, the director of Dortmund, said last week in an interview that he hasn’t had an offer for Jadon Sancho yet. Today, I asked him again, and he just smiled!
“There will be some offers for Sancho in the future. He is improving. He was very tired at the end of the first part of the season but now he’s very fit and performing very good. He improved his behaviour.
“He had some trouble coming in on time — he came more or less late every day. He changed that and he is really improving.
“He is working hard in training so Lucien Favre is pretty happy with him right now.
“I guess he thought over some things in the winter break and now he is working like the professional that he wasn’t before.”
Sancho won’t come on the cheap and is likely to cost over £100m this summer. There is a school of thought that suggests United are willing to pay that with the belief they could get 10 great years out of him during which he could win the Ballon d’Or.
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However, Duncan Castles has discussed Sancho’s situation and thinks a move to Old Trafford may actually be the only option in the coming transfer window.
Castles went on record saying, as quoted by The Express: “There’s an indication that Dortmund are ready to sell in the summer, they’ve got the development they think they can get from him, they’ve raised his value to the point where they think they can get over €100m. The agents are trying to get the best environment for Sancho.
“With [Hakim] Ziyech signing for Chelsea, it makes it difficult for Chelsea to sign Sancho. [Frank] Lampard was opposed to bringing Sancho in the January window and didn’t want that scale of transfer to be associated with him as his first big deal at Chelsea.”
Moreover, Castles claims Liverpool do have an interest but reckons the asking price will put them off.
“Liverpool like Jason Sancho a lot but they’re briefing that they don’t want to overpay for him and don’t want to overpay his wages for his type and age which could cause dressing room problems.
“So that probably limits Sancho’s realistic option to Manchester United now.”
The Scousers may well be sticking to their wage structure, which won’t cause unrest among supporters until they stop winning, but by briefing their interest/unwilling to pay Dortmund’s asking price, it seems like they are throwing out bait which will act as pressure if Sancho joins a rival club.
People will be quick to jump on the player if he doesn’t get off to the brightest of starts. ‘Oh, that’s why Liverpool didn’t pay the money for him,’ etc.
I hope United do sign Sancho as he’s bring goals to the team. And goals win games.
