Jadon Sancho has caused quite a few heads to turn this season as he has scored 20 times and set up another 18 goals in 44 appearances for Borussia Dortmund. Now, many of Europe’s elite, including Manchester United and Chelsea want his services. The latter’s interest has seemingly faded away, so the question becomes: Should Sancho move to United now or stay at Dortmund for another season?
Game Time
After taking a season in 2017/18 to get used to life in Dortmund, Sancho has starred for almost two years. In the process, he has established himself as one of the first names on Lucien Favre’s teamsheet. The 20 year-old has racked up 3,300 minutes in a Dortmund shirt throughout the course of this campaign, so it seems obvious that he will keep his spot in the squad if he stays at the club.
Before the restart of the Premier League, everyone would tell you that Sancho could walk into Manchester United’s starting line-up. But now, their preferred front three of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood are firing. They have 60 goals between them in this season alone, and that makes them Europe’s deadliest front three.
So, it would be hard to see that being changed too easily. Plus, Sancho would take some time to get accustomed to Premier League football, which would again reduce his playing time. Even though he is capable of operating on either flank, he will probably find himself playing second fiddle to Greenwood and Rashford initially.
Chance of Winning Trophies
Sancho might be willing to trade a little bit of game time for some extra trophies. He’s been at Dortmund for three years now, and has seen them come very close to Bayern every time, but stumble in the final stages. The Englishman has only won a DFL Supercup with BVB, so he might want to try his hand elsewhere and see if he can win a well-recognised trophy.
In that case, United don’t seem to be the right destination. Their last trophy was in 2016 when they won the Europa League. After that, they haven’t even won a Community Shield so, in a way, it’s even worse than Dortmund’s record.
Under Ole Gunnar Solskjær, they seem to be in a transitional phase, and have had many ups and downs in the last year or so. As things stand, they haven’t secured a spot in the Champions League, and will have to either win both of their Premier League matches (especially the one against Leicester City) or win the Europa League to do so.
Dortmund, on the other hand, have qualified for the fifth consecutive time, and seem to be establishing themselves as one of the German mainstays in Europe’s greatest stage.
Champions League qualification is still up in the air, but the overall record seems to slightly tip in the favour of Dortmund.
The Club’s Perspectives
Given the choice, Dortmund would obviously want to keep one of their brightest young talents. One who, along with Braut Erling Håland, has forged a formidable strike-partnership. If they want to pose a serious threat to Bayern’s dominance next season, they will need those two to deliver.
But, at the same time, finances must be taken care of. They have said that they are expecting a loss of €45 million, so selling a couple of players would certainly help. Keeping all of that in mind, BVB are asking suitors to meet the price of at least €100m if they want to take Sancho away.
As aforementioned, United’s front three is firing on all cylinders at the moment, and they have proper backup in the form of Daniel James, Andreas Pereira and Juan Mata. To add to that, their finances will surely have taken a hit (though not as much as Dortmund’s) due to the pandemic. So, they plan to offer 88.5 million Euros initially.
The biggest problem here is an anti-United clause that Manchester City shrewdly inserted when they sold Sancho to Dortmund. They are entitled to 15% of the transfer fee in case Dortmund opt to sell him, and that rises to 40% for any Manchester-based club. In the midst of their financial problems, Dortmund wouldn’t want to hand an extra 25% back to City.
Final Verdict
For all parties involved, it seems that another year at Dortmund is the best move for Sancho. As things stand, United don’t desperately need him, and aren’t matching Dortmund’s asking price. The Black and Yellows wouldn’t want to negotiate too much because they need the money, and Sancho will probably get more game time in Germany.
If he stays for another season, he will not only get more options as other clubs will be interested in his signature, but Dortmund will also get to keep a better share of the transfer fee due to the aforementioned clause.
But of course, there are other factors involved which we don’t know, so let’s wait and see how this saga develops.
