Now, there are a couple of conclusions you can draw from the claims that Manchester United have decided against including an option-to-buy clause in Jadon Sancho’s Borussia Dortmund contract.
Perhaps it really is as simple as Fabrizio Romano suggests, and the Red Devils believe that now is not the right time to discuss any permanent deal. At the lowest point of his career and having not played a minute since the start of the season, Jadon Sancho’s valuation is hardly rocketing right now, after all.
Perhaps a confidence-boosting spell back at the club where he played comfortably the best football of his career will allow Manchester United to recoup far more of their £73 million outlay, should they opt to sell in July rather than in January.
From Dortmund to Manchester United and back again
Furthermore, with INEOS’ 25 per cent takeover not yet officially ratified by the Premier League, those set to sieze control of footballing operations at Old Trafford were always going to take any long-term decision over Sancho’s future into their own hands.
But, if you will allow us for engaging in the odd conspiracy theory, is there something else at play here? Something which, if you’re a certain Dutchman named Erik, might just haunt your dreams over the next few months and hang like a spectre over your shiny bald head?
“Manchester United don’t want to include any buy option into Jadon Sancho’s loan deal to BVB, as the situation will be assessed again in the summer,” Romano writes on X. “Man United (and INEOS) are against cheap buy option as Jadon’s current value is not high. Sancho’s future will be decided in June.”
Will Erik ten Hag outlast Jadon Sancho?
This certainly smacks of INEOS keeping all their options open.
Including one particular option which involves firing Erik ten Hag – pressure rising after 14 defeats already this season as links with Graham Potter swirl – and offering Sancho the chance to rebuild his Man United career under a new man next season.
There is currently no reason to suggest that Ten Hag’s job is under any immediate threat. That could change, however, if a dismal slide cannot be arrested in the second half of his second season at the helm.
As long as Ten Hag is Man United manager, Jadon Sancho will forever be persona non grata at Old Trafford. There just ain’t room in this town for the both of them.
But if Ten Hag cannot convince INEOS that he is the right man to take the club forward, and if Sancho displays the determination and the desire to make up for lost time, then it is not out of the question that the latter outlives the former.
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