Manchester United ‘never got close’ to signing Jadon Sancho this summer, despite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer pleading with Ed Woodward to get the deal done.
The Red Devils secured the signing of Edinson Cavani on a free transfer on deadline day, with the former PSG striker inheriting the No.7 shirt which was supposedly saved for Sancho.
United were linked with the Borussia Dortmund winger all summer, yet a combination of poor communication and financial concerns cost the Premier League side the chance to land their No.1 transfer target this window.
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According to The Athletic, United did not believe the Bundesliga side would hold firm in their £120million price tag for the England winger. The club were waiting for Dortmund to effectively blink first in the Mexican stand-off, but it never happened.
United annoyed Dortmund by never ruling themselves out of the deal, despite staying true to their valuation. When the German side confirmed Sancho would be staying after the August 10 deadline came and went, one panicked United executive called to confirm. “What did you expect? You knew the terms,” was the response.
According to the report, if the Red Devils came in with a bid of £150m then Dortmund would have agreed to do business. But sources claim even a £120m deal was out of the equation as it effectively cost £250m once agents and wages were taken into account.
With the cost of not letting fans back into grounds hitting the club hard, United made a ‘calm decision’ to refuse to meet that amount.
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But Dortmund always felt as though they could get a similar price for Sancho as they did with Ousmane Dembele in 2017. Barcelona parted with £147m to bring the France international to Camp Nou and the £120m United were quoted was always meant as more of a starting figure.
One offer which was submitted in the final week of the window amounted to £80m, with add-ons. Dortmund felt as though United did not take their offer seriously.
Sancho himself even felt ‘undervalued’ by the offers and he would have questioned why a bid did not come in sooner, even though the right bid never came.
However, it was rumoured the player was keen to join United and was even speaking to England colleague Marcus Rashford about what Old Trafford and Carrington were like.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp kept abreast of the situation, but even he was resigned to watching Sancho move to Manchester.
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But the Red Devils were once again gazumped in the transfer window by Dortmund; Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham completed moves to the Westfalstadion in the past 12 months instead of Old Trafford.
Sancho resigned himself to a future transfer a while ago, yet there are likely to be more interested parties when the summer window of 2021 comes about.
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