Manchester United fans won’t like it but Jadon Sancho is set to return to Carrington at the end of the month.
After a public fall-out with Erik ten Hag, Jadon Sancho was loaned to Chelsea for the season and supporters thought they had finally parted ways with the troublesome winger.
However, while there was a £25m obligatory buy clause in Sancho’s loan deal, there was also a £5m penalty fee Chelsea could pay to return him to Old Trafford.
On Tuesday, it was reported by David Ornstein that Sancho is set to leave Stamford Bridge after failing to reach an agreement on personal terms. Sancho will return to Manchester on June 30th.
Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Ineos face £31.6m fee to terminate Jadon Sancho deal
Sancho signed a five-year contract with United when he joined in 2021, meaning his current deal is set to expire next summer. United do have an option to extend for a further year.
Currently, Sancho is earning £325,000 per week and his refusal to take a pay cut is why he is now departing Chelsea.
Ineos will be focused on trying to find a new club for Sancho this summer as fans will not want him around Carrington for another year. The only other option is to terminate his deal.
More United News
Finance expert Adam Williams spoke exclusively to United in Focus about the possibility of terminating Sancho’s deal, and he explained that it won’t come cheap.
“If United think it’s best to terminate the deal early, the only recourse they would have is to buy out the remainder of the contract,” Williams said.
“For Sancho at £325,000-a-week, you’re going to pay £17m in one fell swoop, which isn’t ideal given their cash flow position. There might also be complications there with bonuses and forfeiture clauses.
“The alternative is to agree mutual termination. If you could do that, you might be able to agree a lower fee, but I highly doubt that’s something Sancho would entertain. He has all the leverage.
“For amortisation purposes, he is set to cost United £14.6m in 2025-26. If they terminated the deal, that would hit the books immediately. But given that he only has one year left on his deal anyway, that doesn’t really make a difference.
“If they were going to take this route, which I doubt, then it would make sense to terminate it before the new PSR assessment period starts on 1 July.
“United have enough headroom to pass the three-year PSR assessment up until that date. After that, it gets a bit trickier as the more modest £32m they lost in 2022-23 drops out of the equation.
“So if you could bear the accelerated amortisation cost in that assessment window, then that would be the thing to do. You’d be paying £17m in cash and another £14.6m would hit the balance sheet that year as a non-cash expense as you pay up his remaining amortised value.”
Ineos under pressure to sell Jadon Sancho this summer
After Sancho’s petty “freedom” dig towards United, a comeback at Old Trafford is simply out of the question.
The 25-year-old will never wear red at Old Trafford again, and it is now down to Ineos to get Sancho out of the club.
Bayer Leverkusen showed interest in Sancho, but Ten Hag’s arrival as manager means that deal is off the cards.
Sancho entering the final year of his United contract harms Ineos’ transfer power, with clubs knowing that they could simply wait a year and scoop him up as a free agent.
READ MORE: Man Utd fans’ reaction to Jadon Sancho’s Chelsea ‘drama’ speaks volumes after transfer stance, ‘all-time low’ point made
United will aim to get around £25 million for Sancho after offering the same value to Chelsea, but whether any club is happy to match his wage demands is a big concern.
One thing that is for certain – Ruben Amorim won’t want Sancho in and around his squad during pre-season.