Should Borussia Dortmund Make a Move for Jadon Sancho?

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past one and a half year, you have probably noticed Jadon Sancho rumors popping up from time to time — specifically rumors linking the Englishman with a return to Borussia Dortmund. When Dortmund shipped off their starboy to Manchester United at the start of the 21/22 season, many expected him to be the Premier League’s next great winger. Unfortunately, things have not gone to plan.

While Sancho has shown glimpses of his talent during his time at Old Trafford, his output has been somewhat inconsistent. Off-the-field issues haven’t helped Sancho either. According to a variety of reports and a statement from Erik Ten Hag, Sancho has not been conducting himself well in training, which has lead to his being excluded from the first team squad for the past month. Bad has since gone to worse, after Ten Hag’s statement sparked a fallout between him and Sancho, with the winger refusing to apologize to Ten Hag after he posted a thread (now deleted) on X, defending himself and taking a slight jab at the Manchester United head coach. As a result, Sancho is now exiled from Manchester United’s first team facilities.

The future is looking bleak for the English winger, and his position at United has once again ignited the rumors about a possible return to Dortmund.

At the moment, we’re not even sure how realistic a return for Sancho is, as he still has three years left of his contract and is currently sitting on an annual wage bill of 15 million euros. With that said, it does seem like Kehl is trying to work out a model that could be fitting for BVB. The question is, if a return would even be a good idea from a sporting perspective, as I see both pros and cons, if Jadon Sancho were to re-sign with The Black-and-Yellows.

Pros

Sancho is still a very good football player

Much has been said about Sancho’s performances, but if you really dig into his stats on FBREF, you can really only consider him a flop because of his hefty price tag. His numbers are still very decent, and they are far better than some other players in United’s squad, who are currently further up in the pecking order. I won’t go into detail about the stats, but judging purely from them, it would seem that Sancho is not excluded based purely on his footballing ability.

He is a good fit for what Dortmund currently needs

At Dortmund, we have a lot of wingers. Adeyemi, Malen, JBG and Duranville are played exclusively as wingers (unless we’re playing PSG), while Brandt and Reyna are used more as pseudo-wingers from time to time. But do you want to hear a secret? Only JBG and Duranville are actual wingers. Adeyemi and Malen used to play as strikers in their former teams, and it clearly shows on the field. While I do think Malen is the most winger-esque of the two, he’s still much better when playing off a striker (just look at the his goal against Freiburg as an example). While Adeyemi has underperformed during his time at Dortmund, I do think it is because of the fact that he’s not a real winger. His creation numbers are very average — but that’s because he’s a goalscorer who’s able to find space in the box and get in behind a high line. I don’t think I have to remind you of how good a creator Sancho was. In his prime at Dortmund, he could create goal scoring opportunities for his teammates out of seemingly nothing because of his vision and ability to beat anyone in a 1-on-1 duel. If we’re looking for an elite winger, he isn’t a bad shout at all.

Cons

It’s unlikely that Sancho will replicate his earlier BVB numbers

I don’t have to go into detail about this. Sancho’s BVB numbers were absolutely insane, and it is highly unlikely that he’ll be able to replicate them. We don’t really know what state Sancho is in, but if he puts up even 75% of the numbers he used to, he would still be able to collect a lot of points over the course of a season.

He requires a lot of attention

It is no secret that Sancho has always been hard to manage, even though it wasn’t as apparent in his time at Dortmund. According to BILD, the player has had problems with keeping a sleeping schedule, has shown up late for training on a regular basis and flown off to England for 2-3 days after a match. This is very concerning behavior, and it would require a lot of attention from Terzic and his entire staff. If BVB were to buy or even loan Sancho, they have to make sure that such behavior can be sorted out.

The price would actively hinder other transfers

While a loan fee is payable, it probably won’t be cheap. And if BVB were to cover a large majority of Sancho’s huge salary, it would surely hinder other transfers in the winter window. It has already been discussed among fans how we need depth at both fullback and center back, and with Sancho’s pricetag, I doubt there would be room for much more activity, unless some players are let go (please not Moukoko).

He would push out other players in the squad

As mentioned earlier, there are quite a lot of offensive players in Dortmund’s squad. If Sancho was to be recruited, he would certainly go straight into the starting XI for a lot of matches. That could compromise the development of players such as Gio Reyna, JBG and Julien Duranville. I think a healthy rotation with Adeyemi seems realistic, but unless someone’s injured, at least one or two players further down the pecking order would not be able to access any playing time at all.

What are your thoughts?

I would very much like to hear from you in the comments, so let me know your thoughts on the whole Sancho saga. Do you think he’s treated fairly at Manchester United, or do you think he’s not as innocent as it might seem? Let me know!