SANCHO PLAN
Southgate relaxed but United still interested in £100m-rated Jadon
ENGLAND boss Gareth Southgate says Jadon Sancho will be fine if he stays at Borussia Dortmund for another year, with Manchester United reluctant to pay the ( 110million (£100m) demanded by the Bundesliga club.
United retain a strong interest in signing the 20- year- old England winger, but intend to spread their transfer funds across a number of purchases, with a centre forward and another midfielder also on their target list, as well as Sancho, who started in Dortmund’s 1-0 win over Fortuna Dusseldorf yesterday.
United looks to be Sancho’s destination if he were to move this summer with Chelsea drawing back after signing Timo Werner while Bayern Munich are pursuing Manchester City’s Leroy Sane. But Dortmund are increasingly confident he will stay for another season. And Southgate will be relaxed whatever Sancho chooses, saying: ‘I think the key is he has to play football. The beauty of him playing at Dortmund is that he plays regularly and he’s playing in a team that is expected to hit a certain level.
‘ Before this period, that was in front of 80,000 every week with the pressure of Champions League football, which is another bonus, and the need to be challenging Bayern Munich.
‘The Premier League would present a different challenge to that. I think the depth of the league here is a bit more intense in terms of the quality but, from a personal point of view
for England, whichever route that opens up, is positive. At Dortmund, he’s playing for a good club. He’s well looked after by the staff there, they give the right messages.
‘There isn’t a downside for us if he stays with Dortmund and if we see him in the Premier League then that brings opportunities to see him in a different environment and to see how he adapts.
‘But the most important thing is he keeps playing regularly and at his age that is key to him learning.’
Southgate, who spoke to Sancho in the run-up to the resumption of the Bundesliga, makes a point of not intervening in players’ potential transfers.
‘I try not to,’ he says. ‘I’m always available to players who want to speak or get advice about whatever areas of their life but I don’t push that when I am conscious that there’s a lot of noise around a player.
‘I don’t think it’s for me to tell him what to do. I think they should make their own decisions and that decision won’t affect or influence our thinking too much in his case anyway.’