Manchester United insist that they and Borussia Dortmund are still ‘a long way’ from reaching a deal over the transfer of top summer Jadon Sancho.
The process to reach an agreement had looked to be moving along relatively smoothly by United’s standards until 9pm BST on Tuesday night, when an army of national press each reported, simultaneously, that United ‘would not be bullied’ into meeting Dortmund’s €120m asking price for the England international.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tV_ul2xvjY&w=337&h=190]
Reports cited that the fee does not take into account the financial hit football has taken due to the coronavirus pandemic, and that it remains unrealistic on the side of the Bundesliga outfit to expect the full amount to be paid.
The BBC’s version of the story also stated that personal terms with the player had yet to be agreed, citing concerns about the wage structure given a 20-year-old would come in among their top earners. Manchester Evening News, ESPN, Sky Sports and The Athletic also joined in the fun in a move as synced up as when one of John Cena opponents takes his five moves of doom.
It’s been stressed that United still have other options to move towards, Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman has been touted as an alternative recently, while reports in Italy in the last 24 hours report Fiorentina’s Federico Chiesa is also on their list.
Nevertheless, United want Sancho. This move is as much about which club controls the narrative around the deal and payments at the moment as it is around the player actually signing. United have been keen to not be seen as paying more than £100m on any player this summer, while Dortmund are looking to report straight up about them receiving the full fee.
Update @Sanchooo10: A neutral Agent is doing the work between the clubs @BVB and @ManUtd. So United can say: WE don‘t talk. WE don‘t negotiate. WE don‘t have any agreements @SPORTBILD
— Christian Falk (@cfbayern) August 5, 2020
Update @Sanchooo10 & @ManUtd: the requirement of @BVB is still 120 Mio Euro. Their proposel: 70 Mio now. 30 Mio in 2021. 20 Mio in 2022 @BILD_Sport
— Christian Falk (@cfbayern) August 5, 2020
It’s worth noting that this exact same thing happened just before the Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire deals were completed in the last year.
Of course, the transfer is not completed yet and it still remains a possibility that the deal doesn’t happen, but there is will on the sides of both clubs and the player to complete it. Dortmund had set a deadline of August 10 to sort the deal, but it remains to be seen whether it will be done by then – with United also insistent that they won’t be held to an artificial date.
A neutral agent has been reported to have been installed in the negotiations to attempt to thrash out the deal, with both clubs then coming to the table once they’ve found something agreeable.
Follow our socials Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google News.
