Jadon Sancho’s arrival at Manchester United is the biggest and most important transfer that the club has facilitated since Wayne Rooney’s Old Trafford moved in 2004.
Pretty bold statement to do so, right?
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Especially when you consider that during that period United have paid out money from this world to write about Paul Pogba, nurtured and developed David de Gea for a decade to at one point be the best goalkeeper in the world and signed as Nemanja Vidic, Robin van Persie, Dimitar Berbatov and many others to win countless Premier League titles – all about to spend £ 1.4 billion in collective transfer fees.
But for all intents and purposes, Sancho is more of a signing signing than any of these fantastic players, simply because he is a high-quality signing ready to lead United forward not only now, but for the next decade and some.
Young, fearless and exciting to watch, the 21-year-old is a player whose potential you do not dare to seize. You can convincingly argue that Sancho would have become more involved in the media as a “generation” talent, if he had not put up sticks from Manchester City at the age of 17 to go a more direct route to first team football in Germany.
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– Scott Saunders (@_scottsaunders) June 30, 2021
Fortunately for Sancho, and now for United, he did.
Now with a full three seasons in Dortmund, he is probably one of the world’s best winger – regardless of whether he fits into Gareth Southgate’s England plans in the European Championship 2020. Sancho has been able to shine away from the scrutiny and pressure to play in front of the English media while he was in Bundesliga, silence of its craft in a league known for educating and developing young players.
Sancho has not only evolved, he has shown incredible consistency in one of Europe’s five major leagues, and if anything, his performance has been greatly underestimated due to Bayern’s continued supremacy in Germany. In fact, his contribution to BVB has been nothing short of remarkable.
Sancho has shone together with Erling Haaland at Dortmund / Pool / Getty Images
92 Bundesliga matches at that time, 37 goals scored and 41 assists contributed. Incredible statistics. You can only imagine the hype if Sancho had done it in the famous Premier League.
But it’s not just the numbers that make Sancho’s rise so impressive. He has adapted to a different culture, learned a new language and gradually improved as a football player on both sides. He regularly produces an end product, makes smart decisions on the ball, mixes up his game by cutting himself or getting to the byline and has regularly been the player to stand up and count for Dortmund in times of adversity.
Yet despite all this, he has remained relatively under the radar of most people. Out of sight, out of mind, you might say.
Wayne Rooney joined Manchester United in 2004 / PAUL BARKER / Getty Images
However, United have had their eyes properly focused on Sancho for the best part of two years. As they did with Rooney in the early 2000s, the Red Devils have pursued their prayer and looked far from Sancho before waiting for the perfect time to strike back and get the right deal done. Admittedly, United were largely in control of their quest for Rooney – while Dortmund have been much more stoic in their desire to get the full value of a transfer – and the circumstances of Sancho’s arrival are quite different.
Many cynics have been extremely critical of United’s apparent reluctance to meet Dortmund’s conditions, citing a lack of appetite to compete with the best clubs in the world. But in the end, their patience has paid off, and by waiting another 12 months, around £ 30 million has reduced Sancho’s price – a figure that is now likely to correlate with Rooney’s spending when inflation and the overall increase in football finances are taken into account. .
That’s a lot for United.
Sancho will sign a five-year contract to begin with, but unless something goes terribly wrong – a serious injury or a dramatic decline that is impossible to imagine right now – he will become a United player at least for the next decade.
Sancho signs five-year deal with Manchester United / Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA / Getty Images
At that time, United will build around him, Pogba (if he stays as expected), Fernandes and the incredibly talented Mason Greenwood – while there is even talk of World Cup winner Raphael Varane following Sancho to Old Trafford this summer. It is a quality quintet of players that will help United attract the very best players in the world in future windows and solve some of the biggest problem areas in their current team.
The Red Devils have never really lost their appeal, but when you sign Sancho you can be sure that additional cutlery on the stove is probably not far away. He is a complete contrast in the style of Rooney and will offer United something completely different – but the similarity, or reference point for lack of a better phrase, may be that he is the catalyst for another change of guard in English football.
Whatever happens, sit back and enjoy watching Sancho – United’s most important signing to approach two decades.
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