Borussia Dortmund insist Jadon Sancho will not leave this summer
Borussia Dortmund’s sporting director, Michael Zorc, has said Jadon Sancho will not join Manchester United this summer and that he will stay at the Bundesliga club for the 2020-21 season.
The England international is United’s No 1 target in the transfer window and has agreed personal terms with the club on a basic salary of around £250,000 a week. The 20-yearold flew to Switzerland on Monday for Dortmund’s pre-season training camp.
“We are planning with Sancho,” Zorc said. “He will play for us next season. The decision is definitive. I believe that answers all questions. Already last summer we adjusted the salary according to Jadon’s development and on that occasion we renewed the contract until 2023.”
Zorc’s comments, though, are understood to be a bargaining move, with Dortmund and United yet to finalise a fee for Sancho. United want to pay an initial £90m (€100m) over three annual instalments and a further £18m in performance-related add-ons. Dortmund’s valuation is around €20m higher and the German club would prefer a larger lump-sum payment.
A reported deadline of 10 August set by Dortmund for Sancho to be sold to United was viewed by the English club as artificial. Zorc has previously claimed a Dortmund player would not be the subject of a sale only for him to be transferred the following month. In July 2017 Zorc was asked if Ousmane Dembélé would be sold. “No way,” the sporting director answered but Dembélé subsequently moved to Barcelona in late August.
Zorc’s reference to the contract to 2023 signed by Sancho a year ago is not new information for United and is not viewed as having any consequence regarding the viability of the deal. The fact that Dortmund have not extended the player’s terms further reaffirms this stance.
United are conscious that because of their status selling clubs often try to charge an extra premium and believe this is what Zorc is attempting regarding Sancho. Should the transfer not be resolved one option is for Sancho to demand a move but that would cost him whatever percentage he might receive as part of the deal.