Whatever happens with Chelsea, Jadon Sancho is unlikely to ever play for Man United again and his teammates have long since moved on.
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Sancho has made one substitute appearance for United since August 2023
Sancho has made one substitute appearance for United since August 2023
Manchester United players would have major misgivings about the remote possibility of Jadon Sancho playing for the club again as they do not believe he is good enough.
Influential figures in the United squad have no issue with Sancho's personality but felt he was unable to cope with demands of playing for the club before he was exiled by former manager Erik ten Hag 18 months ago.
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Sancho, 25, is on loan at Chelsea for the remainder of the season and the club have an obligation to buy him for between £20million and £25m. Chelsea would have to pay a £5m penalty clause not to make the loan deal a permanent move.
United signed Sancho for £72.9m from Borussia Dortmund in 2021 and his contract expires next summer. Should Chelsea renege on their pledge to buy Sancho, United would require a fee of £14.58m to sell him and avoid a loss under the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules.
The cost of a player is spread over the length of their contract and there is next to no chance of Sancho being in a position where United would trigger the one-year extension in his deal in 2026.
United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe named Sancho as one of five players on the club's books who were either "not good enough" or "overpaid" earlier this month.
Sancho has started 19 times for Chelsea and he has only completed 90 minutes on eight occasions. Sancho, who has scored two goals for Chelsea, last played for England in September 2021.
The winger was widely ridiculed in February for celebrating Marcus Rashford's loan move from United to Aston Villa by commenting "Freedom" on Rashford's Instagram post that announced the switch.
Ten Hag and Sancho held a reconciliatory meeting at the start of pre-season but there was no suggestion that Sancho apologised for publicly accusing Ten Hag of lying over his squad omission against Arsenal in September 2023. Ten Hag said Sancho was dropped due to his form in training.
Having spent the second half of last season on loan at former club Borussia Dortmund, Sancho appeared in four of United's pre-season friendlies.
He missed a penalty in the penalty shootout defeat to Manchester City before joining Chelsea on transfer deadline day in August.
Ruben Amorim gave an incongruous question about the prospect of Sancho returning to United short shrift at a press conference last month.
“I don’t know," Amorim replied when asked if Sancho did not want to play for United again. "I’m just focused on my players and my problems. Sancho is not my problem."
Sancho has played 83 times for United and scored 12 goals.
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