As the 2022/23 Premier League season hurtles towards its conclusion, teams across Europe will be positioning themselves to be at the head of the queue when it comes to new signings, with one Man United star needing to drop his salary demands if a loan deal with Borussia Dortmund is to be completed.
Erik ten Hag has enjoyed a decent enough debut season in the English top-flight, and with the addition of one or two top players, it’s entirely possible that the Red Devils will be up there challenging for the big titles in 2023/24.
There’ll likely need to be some movement of players out also, with Bundesliga expert and senior football journalist, Christian Falk, writing in his exclusive CaughtOffside Substack, suggesting that one surprise deal could be considered.
‘Although there haven’t yet been any direct talks with Jadon Sancho (114 goals in 137 BVB games) about a summer transfer, Dortmund’s sports director Sebastian Kehl is always in contact with his advisors from the Project Elite Group,’ he wrote.
‘One thing is clear: there will definitely not be a buyback for the time being. Sancho (under contract at Man United until 2026) is still worth in the region of €55m and that would be too expensive for BVB.’
It isn’t clear at this stage if Man United would even consider allowing the England international to head back to his former club in any event, though anything is possible in football as has been seen many times in the past.
He wouldn’t be out of sight or out of mind as such, but the glare of publicity might not shine so brightly on Sancho in Germany as it does in England, and that may be of benefit to the player and, ultimately, to the national team.
‘Therefore only a loan would be conceivable at this point, but to do this Sancho would have to cut his €21m salary in half,’ Falk continued.
‘Dortmund also wouldn’t pay the €14m expected for a year’s loan though a maximum of €10m could be considered.’
Before anything is even discussed regarding Sancho, the issue of landing a main striker is surely one that will occupy the powers-that-be at Old Trafford.