Chelsea celebrate in Poland.Chelsea celebrate in Poland.
Chelsea celebrate in Poland. | Getty Images
Jadon Sancho is due to make a permanent move to Chelsea but could yet be returned to Manchester United.
Enzo Maresca’s side did it the hard way, coming back from a 1-0 deficit thanks to goals from Enzo Fernandez, Nicolas Jackson and Jadon Sancho. The Blues don’t want to be competing in the Conference League, and will be back in the Champions League next season, but it’s a statement achievement from Maresca in his first season at Stamford Bridge.
Overall, it’s been a positive debut season for the former Leicester City manager. Maresca arrived in west London with the confidence to make changes and was ruthless when trimming down his squad ahead of the campaign.
Questions over Jason Sancho future at Chelsea
The manager may look to do that again and could make one call that will turn heads - that is over the future of winger Jadon Sancho. The Manchester United loanee scored the third goal in the final against Real Betis, capping off an underwhelming loan stint on a high.
Sancho only scored five goals across 41 appearances this term and never truly nailed down a place in the starting XI. Having found himself on the scoresheet against Real Betis, deciding not to buy the player may seem a harsh call for the Blues, especially since it will still cost the club money.
Chelsea’s loan of Sancho came with the obligation to buy the player for £25 million. It has since emerged that the club could decide not to take on the player permanently, but that they must still pay a fee of £5 million to the Red Devils if that is the case.
That is a significant fee but, having won the Conference League, Chelsea have just banked £5.9 million in additional prize money. That could cover that return fee, which in turn would free up space on the wage bill to recruit a more prolific replacement.
Paul Merson: Sancho gives Chelsea fans ‘the hump’
That’s certainly something that Premier League legend Paul Merson would want to see happen. Speaking after Sancho turned in a disappointing performance against Brighton in February, the pundit said: "That last goal sums up every fan’s frustration behind the goal.
"Every fan wants to be a footballer and the one thing they will do if they had the chance is be able to run around and work hard. That last goal is atrocious, it’s just one-two and played off him [Sancho], and they just stand there and go: ‘Oh’.
"That’s what winds fans up. When they travel to away games and they use all their hard-earned money and people can’t be [bothered] to chase people back, that’s when fans get the hump."
Maresca himself was speaking about the player’s future ahead of the final in Poland and admitted that a decision would be made very soon. He said: "I don't know. I said that when in the last weeks you asked me about different players, I always said the same. And the reason why is because it's the truth.
"It's not the moment, we have tomorrow the final. Then in 24 hours, 48 hours, we're going to start to talk about the future. But at this moment, there is not any thought or any decision made on Jadon or any different players."
In other news, West Ham eye swoop for Didier Drogba protégé in 'amazing' Evan Ferguson upgrade.
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