Man Utd trolled over ‘ludicrous’ Jadon Sancho deal as pundits tell Ratcliffe his ‘agent needs a slap’

Manchester United have been taken to the cleaners over Jadon Sancho with Sir Jim Ratcliffe told why his transfer has been nothing but a catalogue of errors and that the club should be relieved just to claim £5m back on his costs.

The 23-year-old winger moved to Old Trafford in summer 2021, costing a huge fee of £73m and ending at the time a protracted two-year chase by then Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. But after starring in Germany with Borussia Dortmund where he scored 50 goals and added a further 64 assists in 137 games, Sancho has rarely hit the heights during his time at Old Trafford.

Indeed, while Sancho showed flashes of what he could do in his first year at the club, his career has taken a significant downturn since the appointment of Erik ten Hag back in the summer of 2022.

Having also suffered with his own mental health, matters came to a head in early September when Ten Hag axed Sancho from his squad that suffered a 3-1 defeat at Arsenal.

And after calling out his manager on social media, accusing Ten Hag of “scapegoating” him and not being truthful over his omission, the player has been banished from United’s first-team plans and training facilities unless he offers his manager a public apology.

Sancho, though, has refused to back down with the problems between the two now set to lead to Sancho’s exit at Old Trafford.

Indeed, we exclusively revealed on Wednesday that a move to Borussia Dortmund had now been agreed with the player due to return to his former club on a loan deal for the remainder of the season.

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Simon Jordan tears into Man Utd over Jadon Sancho transfer

We understand the Bundesliga club are paying Man Utd a £3.5m fee to sign Sancho on loan for the remainder of the season and to help with their Champions League campaign, where they are scheduled to play PSV Eindhoven in the last 16 next month.

The move will not contain any option to make the move permanent, while it’s understood Dortmund are covering a third of player’s estimated £250,000 a week wages.

Altogether, United will save around £5m, or just over, on the player during his time away.

But talkSPORT pundits – the former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan, together with ex-Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy – have lambasted United over what has been an altogether disastrous signing.

“I think it’s ludicrous it has got to this decision from both sides and he has conducted this poorly, whoever is managing him deserves a slap in the chops,” Murphy said.

“He was never a £300,000 a week player in the first place,” Jordan added. “I don’t think he’s a particularly great player. They tried to buy him in the previous year and somehow they have this problem of trying to offload him.”

Jordan claims incoming new Man Utd investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe will have been well aware of the problems with Sancho and resolving his future would have been one of the first items on his desk after taking charge of the club’s transfer affairs.

“If I was United, I would be relieved to get £5 million back for him. He’s been a deadweight for United, a deadweight for the club and he has a history of behaving in this fashion. He has done it before and maybe Ten Hag didn’t want to put up with it.”

Sancho to Dortmund draws closer

Meanwhile, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has provided an update on the saga and has revealed in his latest column for Caught Offside that Sancho’s loan move is now imminent.

“Jadon Sancho’s travel arrangements to Marbella to join BVB training camp are being prepared – and final details are being discussed with Man United. Fee will be around €4m between loan and salary coverage.”

Sancho’s deal at United is not due to expire until summer 2026, with United holding a one-year option on that arrangement. While the move to Borussia Dortmund gives all parties some temporary relief, a long-term decision on his future will need to be made over the summer.

From United and Sancho’s point of view, they will hope the move becomes a success and some resemblance of a sizeable transfer fee can be recouped for his services, while the winger himself can use the return to the Westfalenstadion to help rebuild his career.

For now though, Sancho departs United having scored just 12 goals and creating six more from 82 appearances.

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