Jadon Sancho has finished his medical ahead of the impending completion of his £73million move to Manchester United from Borussia Dortmund. Although the 21-year-old has not been pictured arriving at the club’s Carrington training base, a blacked-out van arrived there on Tuesday amid suggestions Sancho is putting the finishing touches on his highly anticipated move, Dailymail UK reports.
Sancho was one of three England players to have missed from the penalty spot in Sunday’s Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy at Wembley. Marcus Rashford, who is about to become his new United team-mate, failed to convert along with Bukayo Saka. After completing the medical, Sancho is expected to go on holiday and rest up but he will only have three weeks off before joining up with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team.
United’s Premier League season kicks off on August 14, when they host Leeds at Old Trafford. Sancho’s arrival is significant for United boss Solskjaer – he was eager to recruit the England international last summer, but the Red Devils failed to agree terms with Dortmund. The German club came to an agreement with Sancho that if he stayed for another season, they would agree to sell him if a team met their asking price this summer which United have finally done with their £73m bid.
Sancho leaves Dortmund with 50 goals in 137 matches for the German outfit, providing 64 assists as well. It is a formidable record and at just 21, has his best years ahead of him. He headed for Germany in 2017 from Manchester City, believing he had a stronger chance of regular first-team football abroad.
Completion of his move back to Manchester should help Sancho draw a line under his Euro 2020 heartbreak with England. While Solskjaer has yet to publicly offer any comment over Sancho joining the club this summer, he has already spoken out and thrown his support behind Rashford.
‘When you step up to take a penalty, I think you’ve already won,’ he said. ‘think it’s a great character trait to step up and say, “I will deal with it and the consequences”.
‘I’ve not seen many people, at this club anyway, who lay down and say, “I’ll not take a penalty anymore”. I know Marcus is going to put his hand up and say he wants to take one for us.’ All being well, United’s transfer business will not finish with Sancho, either.
They are in talks with the representatives of France defender Raphael Varane over a move from Real Madrid but are yet to open negotiations with the Spanish side.
But one stumbling block could be Madrid’s asking price of £60m for a defender that only has 12 months left on his current deal. And at 28, Varane will not have a huge amount of resale value either.
United finished second in the Premier League last season, 12 points behind rivals and winners City. They lost the Europa League final on penalties to Villarreal, meaning Solskjaer is still trophyless heading into his third full season at Old Trafford.
