“Even though he wins the champions league with Borussia Dortmund I won’t accept him to Manchester United dressing room, he has to apologize-Erig Ten Hag has sent Jadon Sancho a Shocking message ahead of Champions league clash with Reao Madrid
Although Saturday’s Champions League final at Wembley might not feature any English participation, for Manchester United it will be a game seen with great interest.
Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund will fight it out in the last at English football’s home tonight for the privilege to raise the most dazzling award in the domestic European game. England player Jude Bellingham will want to polish his already outstanding reputation ahead of Euro 2024 by adding a Champions League winners medal to his collection at only 20.
One of Bellingham’s countrymen on the opposition will be Jadon Sancho, a youngster who has rebuilt his failing career with to a loan stint back at Dortmund from Manchester United, the club he joined in 2021 in a £73 million move. Future seasons are still unknown.
United, bad at player dealing in compared to their competitors in recent years, will want to move on peripheral players and those no longer fit the future plans. Sancho could or not fit into that category; the club probably requires a substantial amount to inspire them to sell.
The £73 million Sancho signed on a five-year contract resulted in an amortised cost shown in the annual financial records of £14.6 million. Three years have virtually gone by on that first sale, and £43.8m has been recorded; Sancho’s remaining book value comes out to be about £29.2m. Any form of player trade profit for United would just represent a charge over and above that.
While Sancho’s loan contract has been a win-win-win for the player, United and for Dortmund, whether or not BVB will be able to reach that zone is up for debate. Sums of about the £50m level would appear achievable in the current market. From Bellingham to Erling Haaland, Dortmund has been among Europe’s best at player trading: they have bought cheap, sold high, reinvested the money, starting the cycle over.
Key loan deals for Premier League players unable to receive playing time at their respective teams have contributed to their success; Sancho arrives with Chelsea’s Ian Maatsen. Sancho was loaned €3.5 million (£3m), paid by the Bundesliga team, with further €4 million (£3.4m) in possible add-ons including Champions League stipulations. United insiders told MEN Sport that a “substantial” bonus was triggered after Dortmund made it to the semi-finals and another payment was set off when BVB eliminated PSG to reach the Wembley final.
Given that their previous largest spending was the €35m (£30m) for Ousmane Dembele for the 2023/24 season, taking a significant financial jump on incomings hasn’t been the way of the Black and Yellow. Dortmund do not tend to be big spenders in the market. With the club being connected with a possible move for another player on United’s books, Mason Greenwood, who has been on loan at Spanish side Getafe, Champions League success may have changed both their capacity and inclination to spend to a more degree.
From participation fees, prize money, UEFA coefficient, and the makeup of Germany’s TV market pool, Dortmund has made around £102m from their journey to the final this season. That allows the team some more financial flexibility when summer arrives.
Sancho looks to be further along the line when it comes to a potential permanent departure, especially given that a loan spell where he helped a side to the Champions League final on the grandest stage of all will have helped his own market value. Greenwood has been linked with a possible extension to his United deal in order to preserve his market value – with the forward having just one-year to run on his current contract, and any sale of his representing pure profit due from him being an academy graduate. Greenwood’s next move most likely to be a loan; Dortmund is under discussion as a possible location.
Dortmund will have the means for this; the transfer cost won’t be their obstacle. Long term, it will be the effect on payroll that adding someone like Sancho, said to be on roughly £300,000 per week, significantly greater than any present Dortmund player would have.
It draws attention to a problem resulting from the Premier League’s own wealth generating: wages have increased thanks to the explosive media rights deals, but where the lack of riches at such a level elsewhere in Europe means that selling to other major European leagues is now harder than it ever has been because the cost of acquisition is just too high for even some of the continent’s heaviest hitters.
Dortmund, a team whose a clear plan has enabled sustained success despite regularly having to sell on their greatest assets, may object to the thought of spending their Champions League riches on a player they had said farewell to at a significant profit earlier.
