English Bundesliga

“Jadon’s only good enough for warming the bench now”

 

‘If Sancho’s happy to sit on Liverpool’s bench he should come!’ – Barnes’ warning over £100m transfer

Liverpool legend John Barnes has opined that promising English winger  Jadon Sancho needs to show more consistency to justify making a big-money moves to major clubs like Anfield.

While Barnes is not against the prospect of Sancho joining the fold at Liverpool this summer, he cautions that realistically the 19-year-old Borussia Dortmund star may have to be content with an initial smaller role in Klopp’s side at this earlier stage of his career in the English league.

Sancho is currently in the midst of another superb season with Dortmund, stopping at nothing to help the team fight for the Bundesliga league title and the Champions League trophy. The 19-year-old, having already made 34 appearances across all competitions and scored 17 goals and made numerous assists, is currently attracting lots of attention from some of the world’s biggest clubs.

A move to the Premier League has already been circulating for the hot England international and is expected to be one of hottest transfer targets when the transfer market reopens, with Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United in the queue for the bidding for his services.

Sancho ‘s market valuation is reportedly already hinging on £100 million ($129m) despite his tender years, which means that Liverpool would have to break their transfer record if they were to be serious about luring the young star away from Westfalenstadion.

Barnes is doubtful that the teenage winger can justify the high price tag at this stage yet, besides opining that he doesn’t think young Sancho would be able to slot immediately into Liverpool’s current line-up that has Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino firmly entrenched up front.

The Anfield legend told BonusCodeBets: “If Jadon Sancho is willing to come to Liverpool and not play every week and sit on the bench, then absolutely he should come to Liverpool. But I always tell young players to be careful and play at a high level for four-five years before moving to a bigger club.”

“Salah and Mane have been around for four or five seasons now and have shown their quality and experience, whereas Sancho has been around for 18 months and needs to show that consistency over a three-year period before he costs £100 million to a huge club. That doesn’t happen in modern football anymore, nowadays, if you are young and have just one good season, someone is going to spend £80 million-plus on you.”

“I would advise Jadon Sancho to develop more and show that level of consistency before he is going to be put under a lot of pressure by being a £100 million player playing at one of the biggest clubs in the world.”

The man Barnes has cast his vote of confidence on for the job is RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner, who has openly professed his admiration for the Merseyside outfit. 24-year-old Werner has scored 21 goals in 25 Bundesliga outings for Julian Nagelsmann’s side this season so far, and has been mooted to explore new horizons later in the year.

“Timo Werner would be good competition for Mane or Salah,” said Barnes. “It is more of a question about keeping the current group of players rather than going to sign new players. In football, it is likely that a team could lose some of the players in the summer, you never know what is going to happen.”

The Premier League title looks almost a certainty to be headed in the direction of Anfield this May, with only two wins left to secure.

“Liverpool have not won the Premier League in over 30 years,” Barnes added. “Last year, beating Barcelona and winning the Champions League was a bonus.”