If there is any single player who will, or at least needs to leave Manchester United in the January transfer window it is Jadon Sancho. He hasn’t featured since August, and he’s been frozen out entirely from the rest of the team since September. How did this happen? Well, basically, manager Erik ten Hag answered a reporter query about why Sancho wasn’t in the matchday squad and his answer was simply that the player didn’t show enough in training to get into the team.
Sancho responded by posting a tweet (which inexplicably left up for a very long time) claiming Ten Hag was lying.
The English winger/attacking midfielder was suspended internally, and a public apology was required for re-integration, but it never happened. And so, here we are. United acquired Sancho from Borussia Dortmund for close to $100 million on the last day of June, 2021 and now it looks like he’ll be headed back there.
Borussia Dortmund have publicly thrown cold water on the claims they would be offering Donyell Malen (the player they signed as a direct replacement for Sancho two years ago) to go the other way as part of a potential swap deal. Still, Sancho remains beloved at BVB, and they are the club that seems to be leading the way right now, in terms of acquiring (or in this case re-acquiring) the massive flop.
Especially now that Juventus have dropped out.
Dortmund does face major competition within their own league, however, as RB Leipzig are also thought to be keen. However, moving him is going to be majorly problematic and exceedingly challenging, given his £250,000 a week wages, plus United want a fee of at least €35m (£30m) in return.
That is going to be a very tough sale given A.) the player has had major attitude issues (which are well documented) everywhere he’s been and B.) His form has been so awful over the past couple years.
Jadon Sancho is on our five man short list of players most likely to leave United in January.
It is highly unlikely that United would spend much money on trying to replace Sancho, or anyone else for that matter in the next window, as they were hit today with Financial Fair Play sanctions.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now, while writing for the International Baseball Writers Association of America. You can follow the website on Twitter.