Jadon Sancho: Borussia Dortmund chief lifts lid on move for Man United flop | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund’s director has confirmed the German club are locked in talks to sign Manchester United flop Jadon Sancho – but a deal hinges on one key condition, according to a new report.

A Free Transfer

Despite arriving at Old Trafford in 2021 amidst a sea of positivity after completing a £73 million switch from Dortmund, Sancho has failed to adapt to the choppy waters of English football. While many big-money imports from abroad have also struggled in the Premier League, the winger is a south London native who came through Manchester City’s academy before joining the Bundesliga giant as a 17-year-old.

On paper, it was a blockbuster deal for one of Europe’s most exciting attackers, who was first moulded in Manchester and then transformed in Germany, and it should have been a home run of a signing. Instead, Sancho has proven arguably United’s worst piece of business in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era – a competition with far too many viable candidates in the running.

The 26-year-old lacks the physicality and pace to thrive against robust Premier League defences, and he does not have the work-rate or tenacity to utilise his obvious technical gifts to compensate for this.

Furthermore, Sancho has consistently demonstrated that money off the pitch is the motivator driving his career, rather than success on it. A season-long loan to Chelsea last year ended in the west London club paying £5m not to make the deal permanent, as he refused to compromise on his wage packet at Old Trafford.

This then led to another hastily arranged loan to Aston Villa this year, agreed on deadline day last summer, with the Villans covering 80% of his exorbitant salary.

United retain the option to trigger an automatic twelve-month extension in his contract, which is set to expire in May. But there is zero chance of this happening, with Sancho instead set to test the free agency market after his nightmare stint at the Theatre of Dreams finally comes to a deflating end.

Unai Emery has praised the Englishman in recent months after a quiet start to life in Birmingham. Villa may look to make his stay permanent on a free transfer, with a host of other clubs in the Premier League also believed to hold interest.

However, Dortmund are the strongest contender to secure Sancho’s signature, as managing director Lars Ricken confirmed to German media they are looking to bring him back to the Signal Iduna Park for a third spell. He previously re-joined the club on a six-month loan in 2022 after a public fallout with then-United manager Erik ten Hag.

Another Return to Dortmund

Speaking to Sports Bild about Dortmund’s summer plans, Ricken stated: “We’re currently looking at a lot of players and analysing them closely. We check whether they can make us better. We’re doing that with Jadon as well.”

A report relayed by The Peoples Person revealed Dortmund boss Nico Kovac was also on board with the signing, despite murmurings that the 55-year-old Croatian’s hard-line approach would pose a possible hurdle.

Florian Plettenberg confirms Die Schwarzgelben are “seriously considering” Sancho as a target and that “talks are ongoing” to strike a deal. Crucially, he would “need to take a pay cut” to help facilitate it.

However, the Sky Sports reporter reveals that the United loanee has “multiple offers” on the table, potentially opening the door for him to chase a better offer elsewhere, rather than one which would serve him best from a footballing perspective.

Featured image Eddie Keogh via Getty Images

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