Manchester United winger Jadon Sancho's loan move to Borussia Dortmund has reportedly been delayed as negotiations continue over final details of the deal.
Sancho has agreed personal terms to reunite with Dortmund, his former club, but is waiting for the green light from Manchester United.
Understand Sancho has verbally agreed to move on loan to Dortmund until end of the season. Now just waiting on green light from #MUFC
— Peter Hall (@PeteHall86) January 5, 2024
Dortmund's request in Sancho's deal
Manchester United have rejected Dortmund's request to add a buy-out option to Sancho's six-month loan deal, with final details yet to be clarified. It is understood that Dortmund are "unlikely" to secure a purchase option for Sancho.
The English winger had hoped to travel to Marbella earlier this week – where Dortmund are holding their winter training camp. However, Sancho's switch to the German club this soon in the ongoing transfer window looks "unlikely" now, owing to the continued negotiations between the two clubs.
One of the reasons behind the Red Devils' reluctance to include a buy-out clause is that the club believes a successful loan spell at Dortmund could rack up Sancho's price tag in the 2024 summer window.
Manchester United signed Sancho from Dortmund for £71 million in 2021. The Old Trafford club is aware that it would not get anything near that now, considering Sancho's current situation, where he has not played for them since last September.
Man Utd want Sancho's price to go up in the summer
The club feels if Sancho does well at Dortmund, it would portray him still as a key player in Europe, and that could attract bids from top clubs for him in the summer.
Meanwhile, Sir Jim Ratcliffe's company INEOS is yet to have its 25% stake in Manchester United officially confirmed and the club is in no position to decide head coach Erik Ten Hag's future.
Ten Hag is certainly lucky to still have a job at Old Trafford despite his nightmare second term with the club, with INEOS currently carrying out an audit of operations at the club.
A decision on Ten Hag's future is expected to be made soon but there are high chances that Manchester United will have a new boss for the 2024-25 campaign. That would open up the prospect of Sancho returning to Old Trafford, where he still has three years left on his deal.
A part of the ongoing discussions between Manchester United and Dortmund are also around the loan fee that the German club will have to pay. On the other hand, the Red Devils will be asked to pay a part of Sancho's wages.
It is understood that any deal might see Manchester United paying a significant portion of Sancho's salary, given the huge increase he received when he signed for the Old Trafford side for £73 million in 2021. Sancho's current wages are more than £300k-a-week at Manchester United.
The 23-year-old Englishman has not played since he slammed his Manchester United boss Ten Hag on social media, calling him a liar in early September in 2023. That happened after Ten Hag did not include the English winger in Manchester United's matchday squad for their trip to Arsenal.
When Ten Hag demanded an apology, Sancho refused to give him one. As a result, the Dutch boss banished Sancho from the first-team squad. Since then, the England international has been training away from the first team, with no end in sight to his exile.
It was earlier reported that even though Sancho has attracted interest from Juventus and RB Leipzig, he believes Dortmund would be an ideal environment to find his best form again. The left winger had a great run in three seasons at Signal Iduna Park, where he scored 50 goals and provided 64 assists in 137 appearances in all competitions.
Manchester United are having a disastrous 2023-24 campaign. They are placed eighth in the Premier League table with 31 points and are 14 points behind leaders Liverpool FC.
