British media outlet The Metro have reported that Borussia Dortmund have told Manchester United that it will cost them £70m to bring Jadon Sancho back to England.

The eighteen year old left Manchester City in the summer of 2017 with the idea of getting more first team football with the Bundesliga giants.

It seems like the decision has paid off perfectly for the youngster, with Sancho playing forty senior games for Der BVB up to this point.

He’s been in fantastic form this season; the young forward has struck seven goals in Germany’s top flight and he’s also created nine assists in his twenty-one league outings.

According to football stats website Whoscored; Jadon takes at least one shot per game, make around two key passes per Bundesliga fixture and three dribbles per league appearance too. His passing success rate is pretty high at 85.4%, which is very strong for a very young wideman. His form has won him international recognition and he’s now won three caps for England.

The winger has also impressed in the Champions League and while Dortmund lost 3-0 to Tottenham Hotspur earlier this week, Sancho shone (particularly in the first half) with his dribbling technique and his desire to attack the Spurs defence. Only Jan Vertonghen completed more dribbles than Jadon’s three successful dribbles.

Sancho has all the qualities that Man United look for in a player, especially with the new attacking era that’s started since Jose Mourinho’s dismissal. He’s young, exciting, likes to attack, is direct, efficient on the ball and a player that gets supporters up off their seats. The fact he’s English is another big bonus, as United fans love seeing young English players shining in a red jersey.

I think he’d be very interested if The Red Devils were to make an approach because they’ve got a rich history of playing young British players. Current caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has shown faith in playing young talented stars with Marcus Rashford and Diogo Dalot playing regularly in the Premier League.

Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard are also regular starters who were developed at the United academy.

It looks like Man Utd could be starting a new transfer plan to bring in extremely talented youngster, much like they did under legendary boss Sir Alex Ferguson. As well as Jadon Sancho, Man United have also been heavily linked with Benfica whizkid Joao Felix (via The Guardian).

It’s an understandable strategy given the phenomenal success United when they brought in Cristiano Ronaldo in 2oo3 and Wayne Rooney in 2004.

Yet Man United will have to act with caution when pursing Europe’s talented youngsters, ironically because of Sancho’s history.

As well as scouting and signing top class young talent, United are known as a club that will promote their own youth products. The ‘Class of 92’ is the greatest evidence of that.

The Old Trafford side have a good crop of younger talent coming through at the moment. Scott McTominay, Tahith Chong, Angel Gomes and Mason Greenwood have all impressed in the United youth squads and all apart from Greenwood have appeared for the first team.

Solskjaer stated this week that Gomes and Chong could get more opportunities in the next few weeks due to injuries to Man Utd first team members (Source – Goal.com):

“We’ve still got forward options, but Angel and Chong have been training with us all week and the weeks leading up to this, so there’s a big chance they’ll be involved.”

United have to be weary that their top youngsters might look at the success of Jadon at Dortmund and feel that could be them if they believe their chances are limited at Old Trafford. That could be a possibility if Man Utd decide to pay a huge fee to sign Sancho in the summer.

Personally I think Manchester United might believe it’s a risk worth taking as Jadon Sancho has the potential to become a world class attacker.

I think out of all of England’s top teams Manchester United is the one that really believe that if you’re old good enough then you’ll succeed no matter your age!

So it’ll be interesting to see if Sancho decides to come home in the near future or stay on the continent and continue his progression there.

Posted on February 16th, 2019 by scott
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