Borussia Dortmund’s sporting director, Michael Zorc, is adamant that Manchester United target Jadon Sancho will not be leaving the club this summer as United failed to agree to a deal for the England international before the August 10 deadline Dortmund set, and as far as the Bundesliga club’s sporting director is concerned, that is the end of it all.
“We plan on having Jadon Sancho in our team this season, the decision is final. I think that answers all our questions,” he said in a press conference on Monday.
“Last summer we adjusted the salary to the performance development of Jadon. In this context, we have extended the contract until 2023.”
This is somehow where a sense of déjà vu creeps in regarding the current Sancho situation as this is not the first time Zorc has come out publicly and emphatically said one of Dortmund’s star players is not for sale amid keen interest from a European giant.
The same happened in the summer of 2017 when Barcelona were pushing for Dembele three years ago following a stunning maiden campaign at the Westfalenstadion and the then 20-year-old forward was attracting interest from Barca, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain. Despite Zorc having said the same thing about Dembele not leaving the club, yet he still joined Barcelona.
When asked then if Demebele would be sold in July 2017, Zorc told Die Welt:
“No way. What we’ve seen [from him] was extraordinary, both in his value for the team and his development.
“You always get the feeling he can do something special, make the difference. He can decide games by himself, even those games he’s not really involved in.”
A month before that, Zorc was also quoted as saying:
“Ousmane Dembele has a long-term contract [until 2021] and we are making definite plans with him.
“There are no negotiations [with Barca]. Ousmane is going to be playing for Dortmund in the coming season.”
But despite all this talk, Dembele did leave BVB and on August 28, 2017 the France international joined Barcelona in a mega-money deal worth £135.5m where Barca stumped up the cash to get their top target, besides inserting a release clause of £369.6m into Dembele’s Camp Nou contract!
Morale of the story? Action speaks louder than words as while Dortmund’s chiefs may be insisting Sancho will be with them next season, history has shown otherwise and if United match BVB’s £108m asking price, there is nothing to suggest the deal will not go through.
Looks like Manchester United’s pursuit of Sancho is set to rumble on, possibly dragging all the way to deadline day in October.