Manchester United journalist Laurie Whitwell has provided some insight into the Red Devils’ transfer pursuit of Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho.
This comes after Whitwell recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s United-themed podcast Talk of the Devils to reflect on their 1-0 win over FC Copenhagen in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
After it was recently revealed that Dortmund’s sporting director Michael Zorc claimed that Sancho would remain at the German club for next season, Whitwell had this to say on the matter.
He said: “I think it’s another stage in the negotiation process. United are certainly not giving up hope. It’s currently discussions through intermediaries, it’s a bit slow. United have been slow themselves before. This is according to information that it’s Dortmund’s insistence that they deal through agents. Clearly, they’re trying to negotiate for lower terms.
“My gut [instinct] is still that United sign Jadon Sancho. I think this is just another step in this hard negotiation process. It was a bit of a surprise that he’d signed a contract extension to 2023, which gives a reason for why Dortmund were so adamant that they wanted €120 million this summer. It’s not like his value is going to diminish next summer if he’d only had one year left on his contract, but time will tell.”
The winger, who is currently valued at £105.3 million according to Transfermarkt, signed to the Bundesliga club from Manchester City back in 2017 for a fee of £7.05 million.
Since he arrived at Dortmund, Sancho has gone on to score 34 goals and provide 43 assists in 99 total appearances for the club across all competitions (per Transfermarkt).
The 2019/20 Bundesliga season saw the Englishman make 32 appearances for the club, in which he scored 17 goals and provided 16 assists for his teammates.
Sancho’s performances in those appearances earned him a season rating of 7.64/10, making him Dortmund’s highest-rated player for the 2019/20 Bundesliga season (per WhoScored).
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Despite Zorc’s statement claiming that Sancho will stay at Dortmund this year, it appears that Whitwell remains confident that the Red Devils will be able to finalise a deal with the German club that would see Sancho become a United player by the end of the summer transfer window.