Manchester United worked for a year to push through a deal to sign Jadon Sancho. When he joined the Red Devils in 2021 at the age of 21, United thought they were getting a player who could help propel them to a first league title since 2013, while the player himself saw it as the logical step towards a Ballon d’Or challenge.
Four years on, and it feels like two clubs have been battling not to have Sancho on their team.
United sent the winger to Chelsea on loan at the start of 2024/25, his place in the squad under former manager Erik ten Hag having become untenable even after they buried the hatchet over their previous dispute. The deal included an obligation for Chelsea to sign the player permanently, but Sancho’s largely uninspiring performances for the Blues led to speculation that they don’t really want to keep him.
On June 3, The Athletic’s David Ornstein reported that Chelsea had agreed to pay United a £5 million ($6.8m) penalty fee to get out of their obligation, so he will now return to Old Trafford.
It means a player once billed as one of the brightest young talents in Europe is now at a crossroads, with his next club looking difficult to predict. Where could he go next? Could he stay at United and rebuild his career there under Ruben Amorim?
The Sporting News breaks down the situation.
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What will happen to Jadon Sancho?
Sancho will not be joining Chelsea on a permanent deal. The Blues have effectively chosen to pay a penalty fare to send him back to United.
When United loaned the winger out last summer, the agreement included a clause that meant Chelsea would be obligated to buy Sancho if they finished above 15th place in the league. As soon as they became mathematically certain to do so, the terms of that deal mean they must pay a fee — reportedly £20-25 million ($26.8-33.5m) — to United and take Sancho permanently off their hands.
However, Chelsea had a get-out option: they could pay United a £5m ($6.8m) fee to cancel their obligation to sign Sancho. That is what they have done.
It means the winger will now return to Old Trafford, at least temporarily, as he considers his next move.
Why didn’t Chelsea sign Jadon Sancho permanently?
Nizaar Kinsella of BBC Sport said Chelsea had attempted to negotiate a lower salary with Sancho in order to tie him to a permanent contract, but that their talks had not led to an agreement.
This largely reflects the player’s time at Stamford Bridge: despite a positive season for the club that ended in UEFA Champions League qualification and the UEFA Conference League trophy, Sancho himself flattered to deceive too often.
He recorded five goals and 10 assists in 42 appearances in all competitions, but seven of those goal contributions came in the Conference League against largely modest opposition. After scoring a fine goal in a 4-3 win at Tottenham on December 8, Sancho netted just once more in the Premier League, and he only produced one assist in the top flight in 28 appearances between the start of October and the end of the season.
Sancho’s well-taken goal effectively settled the Conference League final as a contest, and there is mostly a positive feeling about his time at the club, but with Chelsea pursuing other targets such as Jamie Gittens of Borussia Dortmund, it’s not surprising he is leaving.
Head coach Enzo Maresca maintained he was happy to have Sancho in his squad, but when asked in early April about plans to sign him permanently, the Chelsea boss was evasive.
“I’m completely focused about nine games, two months to go… I’m completely focused about that. Then what happens in summer, we’ll see,” he said.
“The Jadon situation doesn’t change. In terms of numbers, he could do better, no doubt. It is not just about Jadon, but we have more players in the same situation.”
Could Jadon Sancho stay at Man United?
Sancho will now return to United once his Chelsea loan ends on June 30, but it is highly unlikely he will stay there for long.
United are desperate to raise funds through player sales and would likely have been planning a summer squad overhaul with the expectation that Sancho would be sold. Ornstein said the player has options in England and elsewhere in Europe, but any interested clubs would need to weigh up the merits of both the transfer fee and Sancho’s wage demands. United will want at least a fee in the region of the £25m obligation they previously negotiated with Chelsea.
The potential difficulty of moving him on means it’s not out of the question that Sancho stays at United, even though it seemed his bridges were burned after his public feud with former manager Ten Hag (and his social media comment suggesting Marcus Rashford had been given “freedom” by leaving United on loan for Aston Villa).
It’s possible that Ruben Amorim could give Sancho a chance to impress in preseason and then keep him in the first-team picture, particularly if no interested parties make a suitable offer to sign the player. However, with the INEOS decision-makers determined to cut costs at every opportunity, they are not likely to be too keen to keep one of the club’s high earners if he is not of specific use to the manager, especially when Matheus Cunha has been signed and there is interest in Bryan Mbeumo.
Jadon Sancho contract, salary, transfer fee
Sancho joined United in July 2021, signing a five-year contract with the option of an additional year. He earns £250,000 a week as a base salary, according to Capology. Chelsea covered the majority of those wages during his loan spell.
United paid a fee of around £73m ($100m) to sign Sancho from Dortmund four years ago. He will cost significantly less now.