Manchester United worked for a year to push through a deal to sign Jadon Sancho. When he joined the Red Devils in 2021 at the age of 21, United thought they were getting a player who could help propel them to a first league title since 2013, while the player himself saw it as the logical step towards a Ballon d’Or challenge.
Four years on, and it feels like two clubs are actually battling not to have Sancho on their team.
United sent the winger to Chelsea on loan at the start of 2024/25, his place in the squad under former manager Erik ten Hag having become untenable even after they buried the hatchet over their previous dispute. The deal included an obligation for Chelsea to sign the player permanently, but Sancho’s largely uninspiring performances for the Blues have led to speculation that they don’t really want to keep him.
It means a player once billed as one of the brightest young talents in Europe is now at a crossroads, with his next club looking difficult to predict. Will he stay at Chelsea, go back to United, or find an escape route from an awkward arrangement between two clubs in varying states of transition?
The Sporting News breaks down the situation.
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What will happen to Jadon Sancho?
The likelihood, at least in the short term, is that Sancho signs for Chelsea on a permanent deal in the coming weeks.
When United loaned the winger to the Blues last summer, the agreement included a clause that meant Chelsea would be obligated to buy Sancho if they finished above 15th place in the league. Since they are now guaranteed to do so, the terms of that deal mean they must pay a fee — reportedly £20-25 million ($26.8-33.5m) — to United and take Sancho permanently off their hands.
However, according to widespread reports including those from the BBC, Chelsea have a get-out option — and it’s one they might decide to use.
Head coach Enzo Maresca has always maintained he is happy to have Sancho in his squad despite his largely underwhelming form, but when asked in early April about plans to sign him permanently, the Chelsea boss was evasive.
“I’m completely focused about nine games, two months to go… I’m completely focused about that. Then what happens in summer, we’ll see,” he said.
“The Jadon situation doesn’t change. In terms of numbers, he could do better, no doubt. It is not just about Jadon, but we have more players in the same situation.”
Could Jadon Sancho go back to Man United? Loan clause explained
It has been widely reported that Chelsea have the option to cancel their obligation to sign Sancho by paying United a £5m ($6.7m) penalty fee. Effectively, they can pay the Red Devils to take Sancho back.
BBC reporter Nizaar Kinsella said on April 25 that Chelsea officials had not ruled out the prospect of activating this particular clause. The Sun also reported that Maresca is happy to let Sancho leave as he plots another summer of upheaval within the playing squad.
If Chelsea were to back out of signing Sancho permanently, he would return to United like any other player at the end of a straightforward loan at another club. Quite what United would do then is hard to guess: while Sancho certainly burnt his bridges with former manager Ten Hag after their public falling-out, he never got the chance to play under Ruben Amorim, who was appointed more than two months after Sancho’s Chelsea move.
It is possible that Amorim could give Sancho a chance to impress in preseason and then keep him in the first-team picture, particularly if no interested parties make a suitable offer to sign the player and reimburse some of the significant sum of money United invested in him in the first place. However, with the INEOS decision-makers determined to cut costs at every opportunity, they are not likely to be too keen to keep one of the club’s high earners if he is not of specific use to the manager.
Could Chelsea sell Jadon Sancho to Borussia Dortmund?
The other option for Chelsea — assuming they do not plan to use Sancho in the 2025/26 season — is to pay the obligation to United and then look to sell the former Manchester City youngster to recoup as much of those funds as possible.
It will be difficult to demand a sizeable fee for a player who has failed to perform consistently either at United or Chelsea, and his salary expectations could also complicate matters, but there is definitely a chance he could be sold by Chelsea if compromises are made.
An obvious route would be to sign for Borussia Dortmund, the club where Sancho made a name for himself in senior football and where he enjoyed a positive loan spell in 2023/24. Give Me Sport reported in late April that Chelsea could look to strike a deal with Dortmund that would see Sancho head back to Germany and Jamie Gittens move to Stamford Bridge, although a lot of pieces would need to fall into place for such a swap to happen.
Jadon Sancho contract, salary, transfer fee
Sancho joined United in July 2021, signing a five-year contract with the option of an additional year. He earns £250,000 a week as a base salary, according to Capology. Chelsea are covering the majority of those wages during his loan spell.
United paid a fee of around £73m ($100m) to sign Sancho from Dortmund four years ago. If Chelsea look to sell him after the end of 2024/25, or if they send him back to United and the Red Devils attempt to cash in, he will cost significantly less.
