Official: Manchester United Purchase Jadon Sancho for €95 Million

Manchester United have their man. According to Sky Sports, the Red Devils have come to an agreement with Borussia Dortmund on a transfer fee for Jadon Sancho, the 21-year-old Englishman whose dazzling play has electrified the Bundesliga since 2017. The reported fee is around €95 million, which includes an original €85 million plus another 10 in add-ons.

This transfer has been a long time coming, with rumors of Sancho’s transfer to Manchester United circulating for years. The clubs famously reached an impasse during the summer of 2020 when Manchester United wouldn’t meet BVB’s requested fee of around €120 million. While the fee this time is modestly smaller, it’s still substantial - more than enough for Dortmund to cover the club’s losses from the pandemic, and potentially fund a small transfer fee or two.

The question that remains is what will be of Jadon Sancho’s legacy at Borussia Dortmund. In this regard, I can only speak for myself: I sincerely wish all the best for Jadon Sancho, and even though I root for Tottenham Hotspur, I hope that Sancho plays a significant role in bringing the EPL trophy back to Old Trafford.

Unlike other recent departures Ousmane Dembélé and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who agitated, skipped training, and used various other underhanded tactics to try to agitate for transfers away from Dortmund, Jadon Sancho has remained a class act from the first moment in black and yellow to his last. The quality of his play went through periods of torrid success and other periods of struggle, but his work rate never once dipped, and he never publicly displayed anything less than total respect for BVB and the club’s fan base. Now, it’s time for BVB fans to return the favor. Jadon has chosen to return to his native England to play for his country’s biggest club, a choice that almost any other person would make. As far as I’m concerned, and Dortmund fan seriously begrudging Sancho for wanting to leave is being completely unreasonable.

As for Dortmund, the question that remains is how to replace him. Most of the transfer fee will probably be used for non-sporting means to help the club recover from it’s financial losses from the past year. There should, however, be around €25 million left to purchase an attacker. Recent rumors have identified Noni Madueke and Donyell Malen, both of the Eredivisie, as potential replacements. While both are talented players entering their primes, it is highly unlikely that either one will fully replicate Sancho’s goal and assist production. No matter what happens, BVB’s play on the pitch will be that much less exciting.