When Manchester United signed Jadon Sancho, it seemed like a no-brainer. Despite a fee of around $92m (£73m/€85m), he was one of the best young players in the world and appeared to be good value. Now, two and a half years later, the situation has changed.
According to German media outlet BILD, Borussia Dortmund are planning to bring Sancho on loan from Old Trafford. His performances at the end of the season will set the Bundesliga side back just $3.3m (£2.6m/€3.0m) as Manchester United look to pry the player from their squad.He played in just 137 games for Dortmund, scoring 50 and 63 goals, all under-22s. His record for scoring and making plays that lead to goals was excellent.
However, Manchester United have a history of players not reaching their potential. From Angel Di Maria to Raphael Varane (and even the likes of Mason Mount), there seems to be a shortage of players in the Old Trafford side. As with Chelsea, one has to wonder if things would have been different if certain players had chosen a different direction. Would Timo Werner have looked a better player if he had signed for Liverpool instead of Stamford Bridge? It certainly seems reasonable. Likewise, if Sancho had moved to Liverpool or Manchester City rather than Manchester United, he would have been a very different footballer in England.
Instead, he fell out with Eric Ten Haag and was exiled until January. Manchester United are currently in a difficult situation with FFP spending huge amounts of money on inactive players. Even Sancho, who looked like a potential $92 million deal, was a complete failure.
Liverpool tried to sign him before he moved to Germany. “We will never have the chance to sign Sancho [from Manchester City],” explained Jurgen Klopp in 2019. “We are not blind. We saw it, we liked it, and then we said, “Can we have it?” I said, no, because English clubs don’t sell to other English clubs.
I don’t know why, but they don’t do that.However, upon leaving Dortmund, Sancho once had almost every club in the world of his choice. Manchester United were his team of choice after a longer-than-expected spell in the Bundesliga and made a remarkable comeback.
