Borussia Dortmund is set to bring back its lost son, Jadon Sancho, from Manchester United. The winger is expected to travel to Dortmund’s training camp in Marbella, Spain, as early as this weekend and will sign with his club on loan until the end of the 2023/24 season.
Indeed, expectations were that Sancho would already arrive in Spain on Friday. But a flight on Friday afternoon was cancelled as Dortmund and Man United were still working through the finer details of the transfer agreement.
Initially, Dortmund was hopeful to sign Sancho on loan with an option to make the transfer permanent at the end of the season. Such a deal structure was, however, turned down by United.
Reports out of England suggest that new minority owner INEOS, under the leadership of British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, has been opposed to a loan deal. The hope is that Sancho could rebuild his form at Dortmund and then have a fresh start once he returns to England, potentially under a new coach—Graham Potter has been heavily linked to the club recently.
The thinking behind this approach is a sound business decision by INEOS and Ratcliffe. After all, Sancho was signed from Dortmund in the summer of 2021 for €85 million ($93 million) plus add-ons. At the time of signing, Sancho had a Transfermarkt market value of €100 million ($110 million).
Two and a half years later, that market value has wholly collapsed under a difficult stretch under head coach Erik ten Hag. The English national team winger and the Dutch national team coach have fallen out on several occasions, and Sancho has been excluded from team activities since the fall after he claimed that he was made a scapegoat by Ten Hag.
Overall, Sancho has managed just 12 goals and six assists in 82 games across all competitions for Man United. This season, Sancho has made just six appearances. But despite all the bad headlines, Sancho has at times being more productive than other Man United stars Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, and Antony.
Indeed, one day, an entire book might be written on what went wrong during Sancho’s first stint at Man United. Without a purchase option, there is a chance that Sancho will be back at Old Trafford next summer.
The fact that Dortmund doesn’t hold the cards to control Sancho’s future might be the biggest downside of this deal. In fact, given Sancho’s lack of playing time, one must harbor significant doubts on whether the winger can be a quick short-term help for a struggling Borussia Dortmund side looking to make up a big gap to the top four in the Bundesliga.
An argument could be made that without Sancho returning without the prospect of some sort of long-term future in mind, there might be no point to this deal for Dortmund at all. In the best case, Sancho will have an excellent second half of the season and repair some of his market value that has dropped to €25 million ($27.3 million). But in that case, Man United will either want the player back or ask for a significant fee that will likely be out of Dortmund’s range.
It is a less-than-ideal scenario for Dortmund. But what if Sancho doesn’t find his feet at all inside a Dortmund side in crisis? His time at Man United highlighted that Sancho can become a significant distraction away from the field, and with things already going wrong for head coach Edin Terzic in Dortmund, another off-field distraction is the last thing his club needs.
With all that in mind, signing Sancho is an intriguing prospect for Dortmund. Perhaps his one-v-one skills, and the ability to create chaos in the attack, will be instantly regained at Dortmund and help the club salvage what has been a poor season. But not having control over the player’s future and adding a piece that doesn’t guarantee instant success is, without a doubt, a significant risk for the Black and Yellows.
Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcast and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth and on Threads: @manuveth