According to reports in the German media, Manchester United have largely agreed a personal deal with England international Sancho. The agent’s team expects him to join United this summer for a transfer fee of £77 million.
United tried to sign Sancho last year but were prevented from doing so by Borussia Dortmund’s £108 million asking price. Now Dortmund have lowered their bid and as long as United make an acceptable offer, it will open the door for negotiations to be completed.
Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc admitted that they reached an agreement with Sancho a year ago that the club would not block his move after one more season with the club.
It did not take too long to reach an agreement between Manchester United and Sancho after discussions had already taken place in 2020.
Solskjaer and assistant manager Mike Phelan spoke with new director of football John Mutaf and eventually made the decision to forgo bringing in Tottenham captain Harry Kane and let Cavani stick around for a season before trying to sign Erling Hallander from Borussia Dortmund next year. Therefore, if a big name is brought in this summer, it will probably be Sancho.
Manchester United have scored 73 goals this season, second in the Premier League behind Manchester City’s 83, but many of those goals have come in the 9-0 Southampton and 6-2 Leeds United games, with those two big wins accounting for nearly 20% of the total goals scored in the whole season!
In terms of games lost in the league, United were tied with Manchester City at six, and the main reason why they ended up not winning the title was that they drew six more games than their rivals. And in fact, United played a total of 7 league rounds this past season with 0-0 scores, the most in the league.
As such, Solskjaer needs to continue to improve his team’s attacking prowess, especially with different goalscoring sets. The all-rounded Sancho can do just that.
Sancho, 21, has contributed 16 goals and 14 assists in 38 games in all competitions for Dortmund this season, most of which have been as a right winger. The statistics show that Sancho, who plays as a right winger, has scored six goals and assisted five times in 13 games.
Sancho has now joined the England national team and is currently at Middlesbrough preparing for warm-up matches against Austria and Romania in preparation for the Euros.
Southgate will announce his final 26-man squad this week and Sancho is sure to make the cut, with Manchester United’s Maguire, Rashford, Luke Shaw and Dean Henderson among his teammates, but Mason Greenwood and Lingard, despite making the initial 33-man squad, are in danger of dropping out.
Sancho is reportedly hoping to settle his transfer before the Europa League kicks off in the middle of this month, but with United’s usual pace of negotiations, I fear that will be too difficult.
The German media report also states that United have not yet made an official transfer offer to Borussia Dortmund. However, United are thought to be willing to pay the fee that Dortmund want, and both sides have a common goal of completing a transfer deal.
This summer’s European transfer window is about to open, launching two days before the Europa League opener between Turkey and Italy, on June 9. The end date will revert to the old late night 23:00 on 31 August, while the new Premier League season will resume on 14 August.
