MICAH RICHARDS
SANCHO NOT READY FOR UNITED,
JADON sANcHO continues to be linked with Manchester United and it is their ambition to sign him before the transfer window closes. I really hope they don’t.
sancho to Old trafford would be the headline-grabbing deal of the summer but it would also be the most expensive. the finance involved in a deal of this nature would create enormous pressure for everyone, not least a 20-yearold who is far from developed.
Don’t get me wrong, I think sancho is fabulous. I’ve followed his path since Joleon Lescott told me about a 15-year-old at Manchester city’s Academy who he said was ‘one of the best kids I have ever seen’ at that age. He’s bursting with promise and, one day, I can see him taking off.
If you put someone in the wrong environment at the wrong time, though, promise can flounder and I’m concerned that if sancho was to join United now the effect could be detrimental. It’s as if United are chasing a status transfer rather than working to a proper plan.
Are they doing it just to make the fans happy? the one thing that confuses me now about United is that they seem to be buying players that nobody else is rumoured to be bidding for, such as Donny van Beek, and that is never a positive situation for a club to be in.
It never used to be this way. United signed superstars, United added cleverly to their squad each year and that allowed them to dominate but the landscape in Manchester began to change when city signed carlos tevez from United in 2009. It has led United to where they are now.
I will never forget the day tevez joined city. carlos wasn’t a lad who spoke much around the dressing room but, my God, when he was on the pitch he was unbelievable.
In those first sessions with us, I was looking at him thinking, ‘How have they let him go?’
carlos carried us for a couple of seasons, as the Abu Dhabi venture began to take off. He was a genuine world- class talent, a player who showed others of his level that city meant business and were a serious destination.
He had his troubles and nobody has forgotten the moment carlos refused to come on in a champions League game against Bayern Munich and subsequently went back to Argentina on strike but, let me tell you, if he hadn’t come back that season we wouldn’t have won the title in 2012.
tevez’s influence was huge on so many things. If city target a player nowadays, they will pretty much get them. You hear about the interest but then the transaction is done and they carry on progressing. can you really say the same about United?
You might tell me city missed out to United for robin van persie, when he left Arsenal in 2012, but how often do United get the players that city really want now? the only one I can recall in recent times is Alexis sanchez but that, to be diplomatic, didn’t work out for United.
this is what worries me about the sancho saga — United love the razzmatazz of a big signing but think of all the times they have made massive investments in the last decade and it has not worked out for a player. I would hate it, for example, if sancho found himself scrutinised like paul pogba.
sancho made a big decision to leave city for Borussia Dortmund. He told the club, very respectfully, that if he wasn’t going to get
It’s as if United are chasing a status transfer without a plan
starting chances then he wanted to explore his options elsewhere. It was a brave call to go to Germany.
each year he has progressed. One goal in his first season, 12 the next followed by 17 last season. there were 16 assists, too. For those who love numbers, he is a footballer going places. If you are spending £100million, though, there has got to be more than promise.
Jadon is still learning. His style of play means he is finding it harder to shine in international football as the pace is slow — he’s so much better when everything is happening quickly and instinctively in games where teams aren’t camped in their own penalty area.
Also what happens to Mason Greenwood, Marcus rashford and Anthony Martial if United get this deal over the line? One of them would have to make way because no club spends £100m on a player to be on the bench.
Old trafford was once the place to be for this kind of transfer but it’s not any more. that’s why it’s my wish for Jadon sancho to remain right where he is. He doesn’t need to be United’s latest big-money gamble.