Over the past few weeks, it has increasingly looked as though Jadon Sancho would join Wesley Sneijder, Gareth Bale and of course, Nicolas Gaitan, in the list of Manchester United greats that never were.
Borussia Dortmund have been adamant that the 20-year-old Englishman will be staying put for the 2020-21 campaign after United and any other potential suitors failed to meet a €120m asking price by their 10 August deadline.
Nevertheless, speculation surrounding Sancho’s future has continued to swirl in the weeks since and accelerated further after United’s unconvincing start to the season which has seen them lose to Crystal Palace and narrowly beat Brighton in the most fortuitous of circumstances.
With the European transfer window closing on Monday 5 October, i will be keeping track of all the latest twists and turns in the longest running saga of the summer:
Sancho to Man Utd latest
The rumour mill sprang back into life after news that Sancho would not be involved against Bayern Munich in the German Super Cup on Wednesday night due to a respiratory infection. Dortmund later clarified that Sancho had tested negative for Covid-19 earlier in the week.
News of Sancho’s absence against Bayern came after Sky Sports reported that Dortmund had rejected a new £91.3m (€100m) offer from United on Tuesday evening, with Dortmund refusing to budge from their €120m valuation.
With Dortmund digging their heels in, it looks as though United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward will have to cough up the full asking price to have any chance of signing Sancho this window, just as he did after weeks of haggling with Leicester City before eventually paying £80m for Harry Maguire in 2019.
The Daily Mirror report on Thursday that United have entered talks with Barcelona about loaning their forward Ousmane Dembele for the season while the Daily Star report that Real Madrid forward Luka Jovic is pushing for a move to Old Trafford.
Updated 11am on Thursday 1 October 2020
Are there any alternatives?
As reported by i earlier this month, it is not necessarily a case of Sancho or bust for United. The club has explored alternative targets but are only willing to sign someone else if they feel that it would strengthen Ole Gunnar Solskjaer‘s squad and can be done for a reasonable price.
Increasingly, it looks as though the player whom Sancho replaced at Dortmund, Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele, could be the wide player brought in before the deadline.
Dembele left Dortmund in acrimonious circumstances back in 2017, joining Barcelona in a £95m (€105m) deal following just one season in Germany, but his time in Spanish football has been beset by injury problems. Over the past three seasons, the World Cup winner has been limited to 75 appearances in all competitions.
United have reportedly opened talks with Barcelona over a season-long loan deal, perhaps in view of making a renewed effort to sign Sancho next summer. Ronald Koeman is looking to clear room in their squad in order to sign one-time United player Memphis Depay from Champions League semi-finalists Lyon.
Douglas Costa is available from Juventus and could be another short-term option that United consider, while Watford’s Ismaila Sarr is also on the backup list. The Hornets are adamant that the Senegalese will only be allowed to leave on a permanent deal after signing him for £40m from Rennes last summer.
Is Sancho even what they need?
Although United’s attack hasn’t quite clicked into gear as it did during Project Restart, there have been glimpses of it over the first two games. Mason Greenwood finished off a lovely team move only to be ruled offside against Brighton, while Marcus Rashford scored a superb solo goal in the same game after latching onto a Bruno Fernandes pass.
Anthony Martial has looked off the pace in the opening games, but Solskjaer will not lose sleep over any of his first-choice front players. The United boss is likely to have concerns over the goings-on at the other end of the pitch, however, as his side has given up seven big chances to Palace and Brighton.
Solskjaer acknowledged United’s defensive deficiencies at the Amex, admitting that the team’s shape is not up to scratch and too many individual mistakes are being made. It followed Rio Ferdinand’s pre-match comments that the “centre back position should be a priority over anywhere else in the transfer window.”
Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof have both struggled in the early weeks of the season while the lack of a mobile defensive midfielder to screen them was also sorely lacking in both matches with Palace and Brighton’s attackers able to bypass United’s double pivot far too easily.
Signing Sancho would be a huge statement of intent from United but perhaps that £108m could be better spent elsewhere.
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- Why United are prepared to play the long-game in pursuit of Sancho
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- 5 players Man Utd could sign this summer
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/34iE6iA
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