Sky Sports pundit and former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has warned of getting ‘carried away’ with £100m United target Jadon Sancho, according to a report in the Mirror.
Sancho who currently plays for Borussia Dortmund is in high demand across Europe with a host of clubs interested in signing the English winger this summer.
The 20-year-old Sancho has been in stellar form for Dortmund this season scoring 17 goals and racking up 17 assists in all competitions for the German club and according to the Mirror report, a transfer for Sancho could cost up to £100m.
However, Neville has advised people to take all the talk and hype surrounding Sancho with a pinch of salt.
The Sky Sports pundit has compared Sancho to star players from other countries who have won a number of titles both internationally and at club level.
Speaking about the Dortmund star as compared to other star names in world football, in conversation with Sky Sports, Neville said:
“To be honest, Jadon Sancho in this moment of time… we get carried away,”
“I think we’ve got an amazing group of young English players.”
“But we have to consider the other players that exist, Brazilian players, Argentine players, German players, Belgium players, we are not the only country in the world.”
“That’s how it was as an England player and an England coach, ‘we have a golden generation’.”
“You say golden generation and obviously it was Becks, Stevie, Frank, Rooney, but then Brazil had Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, what’s that… platinum?”
“You say we have a golden generation but you forget these other countries have world stars. It’s like, ‘hang on a second’.”
“Argentina have Aguero, Higuain, Messi, Di Maria, how good are they compared to Jadon Sancho? Jadon Sancho is nowhere near these players.”
“Let’s be clear, Jadon Sancho is a talent, but we can’t start putting him in the category with world stars who are winning European cups and World Cups regularly, season in season out.”
Whilst interest in Sancho appears to be high across Europe, due to the talent and potential that the 20-year-old has displayed, we should be careful of heaping to much pressure on the ace’s shoulders.
That’s not for the sake of Man United or whatever powerhouse Sancho inevitably joins in the near future, but potentially for the sake of the England national team.
The media and fans alike need to learn from the mistakes they’ve made with their treatment of England’s top players in the past and strive to not make those same errors with talents like Sancho.