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A long-running transfer saga at Manchester United finally drew to a close this week after Jadon Sancho’s loan move to Borussia Dortmund was confirmed.
However, the larger question of Sancho’s future remains.
The player will be at Dortmund only till the end of the season and considering the wages he is on, a permanent move their always seemed unlikely.
Still, Dortmund’s Sporting Director Sebastian Kehl has now left the door open for that to become a reality.
Kehl spoke to German outlet Ruhr Nachrichten and revealed that they have no buy option for the player but “you can never rule anything out”.
He acknowledged that the financial package needed to extract Sancho from Old Trafford could be beyond their means, but “we’ll let things come to us”.
He said: “Staying here beyond this season? You can never rule anything out… but we know what kind of market value he can generate. I’m not naive, but we’ll let things come to us.”
Ultimately, it is a waiting game for Dortmund to see how the market for Sancho develops.
A lot will depend upon how Sancho plays on his return to the pitch because the better he does, the market will open up for him and United.
In effect, it is a catch-22 situation for Dortmund.
If they want to keep him there permanently, the only way for that to happen is for Sancho’s value to tank, in which case even they would think twice about keeping him.
On the other hand, if he plays out of his skin and rediscovers the form which made him such a prized asset once, then he will be playing himself out of Dortmund’s hands in the process.
For United, they would just hope that Sancho is hugely successful in his loan so that even if bridges with Erik ten Hag aren’t mended, they can make some sort of return on their investment of £70 million.
