Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho is reportedly under increasing pressure to publicly commit himself to the Bundesliga after the 10 August deadline for Manchester United to purchase the player for €120 million expired without anything solid happening. Whilst United will still be after signing the player, it would seem that the club is not as committed to selling the player, especially after putting it so abruptly on Monday after the player flew to Switzerland with his teammates.
Neil Custis of The Sun has suggested that Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc and some of Sancho’s teammates have suggested that the 20-year-old will be staying at the club for the 2020/21 season, the player himself has remained silent, which gives an, albeit slight, impression that the player would like to leave the club. Dortmund have Sancho contracted until the summer of 2023 so it seems rather strange that the player would need to make a public commitment to his club. Surely him signing his last contract does that?
On Wednesday, as part of the pre-season training camp, Sancho played in a training game against SC Rheindorf Altach, winning 6-0. Whilst the player has not yet committed himself to his club and whether he would do that remains to be seen but the silence could actually mean something. I don’t think a club could make a player commit in public, that would seem a bit extreme and could but the German club in a position whereby it causes itself some negative publicity. It just seems strange right now.
Journalist Daniel Harris has suggested that Sancho will put in a transfer request in order to get the move to United this summer but personally, I cannot see that happening just yet, especially not whilst the squad are on their pre-season training camp in Switzerland. After playing his first pre-season match on Wednesday, Sancho did speak to the media but said nothing about wanting to commit to the club, just that he loves playing with this lot, which is what you would expect a player to say about his teammates. The Sun reported Sancho as saying:
“I love playing with this lot. It is a special bunch. We’ve got some special young players coming up.
“I am really happy to share the pitch with them and guide them. I was once in their shoes, playing with the seniors. I am happy for them.”
There has been too much stated to suggest that United would just let this move turn into nothing. Surely, as the club knew that the transfer window was coming up, you would have thought that United would have opened discussions with Dortmund months ago to test the water and see what was required to get the deal across the line. It is stated by Custis that there are agents and intermediaries continuing to wrangle over the English winger’s future so this looks set to rumble on for many more weeks. It is not enjoyable seeing every transfer turned into a war of words, which it feels this one is becoming.
Written by John Walker
