Jadon Sancho's anticipated departure from Manchester United may not materialise soon, despite reportedly agreeing to a transfer to Napoli. The England winger seems to have no future at Old Trafford after falling out of favour. The £80million flop spent the latter half of the 2023/24 season back with his old club, Borussia Dortmund. Chelsea then made a move for Sancho last season, having agreed a season-long loan deal with United, which included a £25m obligation to buy.
However, the Blues reneged on that agreement by paying a £5m penalty fee, sending Sancho back to United. It's unlikely that the winger will be back in contention under current manager Ruben Amorim, prompting him to seek a new club. Dortmund have declined the opportunity to sign him for a third stint, while Napoli have emerged as a potential destination. Sky Sports Italy suggests that Sancho has verbally agreed to join the Serie A champions, but there are still hurdles to overcome to finalise the deal.
That is despite United and Sancho reaching an agreement that a clean break, in the form of a permanent transfer, would make sense for all parties as opposed to another loan.
But the Italian heavyweights are struggling to meet the £21.3m price tag that the Red Devils have set for Sancho, and they would also find it difficult to cover his £300,000-per-week salary.
This is a similar problem they face in their bid to sign Manchester City star Jack Grealish. The ex-Aston Villa ace earns a similar wage to Sancho, leading to suggestions that City might have to subsidise around half of the cost to enable Grealish's departure.
City boss Pep Guardiola has hinted that Grealish's time at the club may be up after being left out of the Club World Cup squad: "It was a conversation between him and the club and they decide. Jack is an exceptional player, the only reason why he didn't play last season is of course my decisions, and we decide that he has to play - and the club was honest, he was honest.
"We decide the best is that he has a place that he can feel he can play and come back to be the player that he was in the year of the treble or all his career at Aston Villa; without him it would have been impossible or more difficult to achieve the treble.
"The fact is the last two seasons he hasn't played much minutes and he has to come back to play and get the butterflies back in his stomach that he can play every three days and show again the quality that he has."
Sancho is facing a similarly critical juncture in his career, with just one year left on his contract at United and not having featured for them in the Premier League since August 2023.