Former Manchester United captain and Class of 1992 graduate feels that his former club should have acted quicker in their pursuit of Jadon Sancho this summer. United were given a 10 August deadline to sign the England winger from the Bundesliga club but did nothing of note to get the deal done – which would have cost the club £108 million (€120 million) which is a big amount of money to spend with all the financial uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic which suspended world football for three months.
United still seem to be linked to the England winger and it is suggested that he is still Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s number one target of the summer despite the club so far signing only Donny van de Beek from Ajax in a £35.7 million deal. Dortmund wanted the deal to be wrapped up quickly so they could bring in a replacement and start their pre-season training with the new player in the squad. This does not seem to be the way that United want to conduct business. Neville spoke to the Daily Mail, saying:
“Like everyone else they had three months off because of coronavirus, so I don’t think it should be the case they didn’t have the resource or time to get things done.
“Chelsea got their business done, [Manchester] City have got three or four pieces done. I don’t think timing’s the issue. It’s just a thing with United that every time they go for a player in the last four, five, six years it feels they are a little bit desperate.
“They think they can hang on but they always pay it [the asking price] in the end. That’s sometimes where I think you can take control, give a hard deadline and say ‘we’re moving away from this deal’.”
United did not seem to react to the 10 August deadline to sign the player and seemingly thought that their own plans to sign him were better than respecting Dortmund and their wishes. United should have got the deal done last month before the deadline or moved on if they could not. All the club has done is allowed the media, the ITKs on Twitter and others to keep the hopes of this deal being completed alive. The mood surrounding the club will change if nothing happens and Solskjaer is not backed this summer. Neville continued by saying:
“The fact that it’s dragged on. Just say to Dortmund ‘leave him there’ and go get another player. There are plenty of players around, there can’t be just one player you’re chasing.
“It is frustrating but I do think United have been better in these last couple of seasons, more careful and not making mistakes either. If you can’t get a deal done [for Sancho] you have to move on. You certainly have to give hard deadlines on players.”
It is not much to ask of United to get deals done quickly. The transfer window has been open for six weeks now and there are three weeks and five days of the transfer window left after today (Tuesday 8 September 2020) so the club is running out of time. United will need to sign a striker, which might not happen until January, a right-winger, a central defender and a left-back in order to strengthen the squad so the club has a chance to take on the might of both Liverpool and Manchester City but other clubs, such as Chelsea have strengthened too, so it makes it much harder for United to challenge for the Premier League title.
Written by John Walker
