Manchester United target Jadon Sancho will remain at Borussia Dortmund after this summer’s transfer window closes, according to an official from the Bundesliga club. The 20-year-old winger has attracted attention from both United and Liverpool with many stories linking the player, more with United, over the past year or so.
Dortmund’s head of club licensing, Sebastian Kehl has stated that he believed the former Manchester City academy player will spend the next season in Germany. Kehl is a club legend and helped them reach the UEFA Champions League final also winning three Bundesliga titles spoke to Sky Deutschland about the England winger, saying:
“We expect Jadon [Sancho] to play with us next year.”
Reports recently emerged suggesting that Liverpool were the frontrunners to sign Sancho this summer, which seems funny as the media have always suggested that United were the main team interested in the player. However, Kehl dismissed those rumours by stating that they did not correspond to the truth. Fancy that!
Dortmund would like to see Sancho remain at the club this summer but if a big bid came in for the player, it would be down to the player and the club to work through that. However, he has led the club to become frustrated with him recently and a booking for a political message and a reprimand for a haircut breaking social distancing rules.
This has led to England manager, Gareth Southgate sending a message to the 20-year-old about his conduct away from the pitch which is not setting an example to younger people who look up to the player, especially in the trying time we live in right now. Sancho was fined €10,000 for getting a haircut without wearing a mask. Southgate said:
“He is still very young. He’s not going to get every decision right.
“If I think about the photograph, he’s probably got to look after himself a little bit better in that sort of situation and not allow somebody to heighten their own fame by getting a picture with him, which has ended up with him being in a difficult position.
“There’s a naivety of youth in some of the things that happen. But that’s a journey that most if not all players go on. There are very few 20 year olds that make the right decision every single time.
“If I look through the squad, I worked with most of them at Under-21 level. I’ve been through all the pitfalls. He’s got a higher profile than most when they made some of those errors.
“It’s going to be more difficult for him because any mistake he makes is going to be in a more high-profile environment than others players his age.”
Southgate feels that Dortmund have handled Sancho well during the coronavirus pandemic and the player was praised, despite being booked for wearing a ‘Justice for George Floyd’ T-Shirt when he scored a hat-trick against SC Paderborn last weekend. Talking about his development with the Bundesliga giants, Southgate continued by saying:
“His development is in a really good direction. He’s at a club that are handling that very well. They’re giving him opportunity but they are also firm with him at the right times.
“He’s improving on the pitch, he’s becoming more responsible off it. There is still a bit of a way to go with that. We’ve got to keep raising the bar and challenging in that area to make sure that we maximise his talent and he maximises his talent.”
The conclusion came with Southgate admitting that he will be happy with Sancho whether he remains in Germany after the summer transfer window has closed, or whether he moves to Manchester United or elsewhere. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have been hotly linked to the player but there does seem to be different things reported each week. Southgate concluded by saying:
“I’m always available to players who want to speak or get advice about whatever areas of their life, but I don’t push that particularly when I am conscious that there’s a lot of noise around a player.
“I don’t think it’s for me to tell him what to do. They should make their own decisions and that decision won’t affect or influence our thinking too much in his case anyway. The beauty of him playing at Dortmund is that he plays regularly.
“He’s playing in a team that is expected to hit a certain level, that before this period had 80,000 fans every week, so the pressure of that, Champions League football, which is another bonus and the need to be challenging Bayern Munich all the way.
“He’s playing for a good club. So there isn’t a downside for us if he stays with Dortmund at all, and if we see him in the Premier League then that brings different opportunities to see him in a different environment and to see how he adapts to that.
“But the most important thing is that he keeps playing regularly and at his age that is key to him learning and improving.”
