Former Manchester United player and current Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said what many fans are thinking: The Jadon Sancho saga is holding United back.
While Chelsea and Manchester City have got their transfer dealings done early, United have so far only added Donny Van de Beek from Ajax during the off-season. One of the reasons behind that has been the on-going Sancho saga. Dortmund has made it clear they want £108 million for the forward while United’s valuation is sone way off that, and Neville is not happy.
“That’s been the frustration with Sancho. The fact that it’s dragged on. Just say to Dortmund ‘leave him there’ and go get another player. There are plenty of players around, there can’t be just one player you’re chasing.”
Neville said during a TalkTalk media session
Chelsea has added Timo Werner, Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz, Thiago Silva, Hakim Ziyech, and Malang Sarr, while Man City signed Nathan Ake from Bournemouth and Ferran Torres from Valencia. Neville pointed at those two in particular as the model United should have taken.
“Like everyone else they had three months off because of coronavirus, so I don’t think it should be the case they didn’t have the resource or time to get things done. Chelsea got their business done, City have got three or four pieces done. I don’t think the timing’s the issue…It’s just a thing with United that every time they go for a player in the last four, five, six years it feels they are a little bit desperate. They think they can hang on but they always pay it (the asking fee) in the end. That’s sometimes where I think you can take control, give a hard deadline and say ‘we’re moving away from this deal.”
Neville added
A commotion has arisen of Ed Woodward’s role at the club, especially after the collapse of the Erling Braut Håland transfer last year. There was a call for a director of football to be implemented last off-season, with Edwin Van der Sar’s name thrown around as a possibility. It didn’t happen, and with the current Sancho saga holding United back, the calls will be ringing around once again. Although Neville thinks there has been an improvement.
“It is frustrating but I do think United have been better in these last couple of seasons, more careful and not making mistakes either. If you can’t get a deal done (for Sancho) you have to move on. You certainly have to give hard deadlines on players.”
Neville said
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