One of the reasons Jadon Sancho will be tempted to sign for Manchester United is that the club’s stature can transform him from being a very good player at Borussia Dortmund, into a global icon.
United’s famous number seven shirt is lying in wait for him, and Sancho can take his career to the next level if he follows Cristiano Ronaldo by succeeding at Old Trafford.
Sancho sent a message out last week on Twitter, a sponsorship message for Nike, using a photo of both himself and United forward Marcus Rashford.
Whether it was Sancho himself or one his advisors/PR team who chose the photo, they knew exactly what they were doing, capitalising on the interest of United supporters to create a buzz.
The results from a social media perspective were quite staggering in terms of numbers.
This will have shown Sancho the value to his own personal brand, that an association with Manchester United can create.
Rashford has already been able to explore this, using his status as a player at one of the world’s biggest clubs to help drive a charity initiative to help provide meals for children across the UK.
High interest
Sancho’s message with a picture of Marcus Rashford received a staggering 91,000 likes on his tweet. Compare this his other recent messages…
12,000 likes
9,000 likes
9,000 likes
4,000 likes
64,000 likes
69,000 likes
29,000 likes
Sancho’s message with Rashford was his highest level of social media interaction in 2020, eclipsing his previously ‘most liked’ message by 21,000 likes.
While this might not seem significant, to a young player who wants to grow his brand off the pitch as well as on it, this level of interest should only fuel Sancho’s desire to sign for United and tap into the club’s huge fanbase and grow his appeal.
This speaks Woodward’s language
For Manchester United, a move would be ‘win win’. The Mail reported earlier in 2020 that United wanted to sign a ‘global icon’ this summer amid concerns of commercial unrest.
When it comes to promoting brands and sponsors connected with United, figures like social media likes and interactions matter.
Quoted by the Manchester Evening News last November, Ed Woodward told NYSE investors, “In terms of our social media footprint we have garnered close to 300m interactions across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter during the first four months of the season, representing an 11 percent year-on-year increase.
“To put that into perspective this is more than 80 percent more interactions than the next biggest Premier League club and more interactions than the numbers third to sixth largest Premier League clubs combined.”
To take such pride in figures is laughably typical Woodward, but right here he can help United find some common ground with Jadon Sancho’s advisors.
United can help Sancho get bigger, and the winger can play a part in United’s pursuit of making headlines, on the pitch and online.
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