Manchester United are reportedly braced for Premier League rivals Chelsea to bid for one of their big-money fringe players.
Both the Red Devils and the Blues have been two of the top flight’s biggest movers in the transfer window so far, with Erik ten Hag’s side shelling out £140million on Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, while Chelsea have bought in ten new faces.
It would now appear that the two rivals could be set to meet each other around the negotiating table for a Manchester United player who has been heavily linked with an exit this summer.
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Jadon Sancho’s future has been up for debate since he returned from a successful spell back at his former side Borussia Dortmund and although he has made up with Ten Hag after the pair fell out last season, he has been linked with the likes of Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain this summer.
But The Athletic report that officials at Old Trafford ‘sense Chelsea may make an approach’ for the 24-year-old, with Manchester United valuing him at £40million and reportedly open to selling him before the transfer window shuts next week.
The key issue that the Red Devils have found this summer is finding a club that will meet the England international’s wages, with Capology figures claiming he is taking home £250,000 per week.
Chelsea have again not been shy in flexing their financial muscle this summer and with Raheem Sterling seemingly on his way out of the club after he was omitted from the first-team squad last weekend and subsequently stripped of his squad number, Sancho would appear to tick the box as a replacement.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, it’s hard to justify Chelsea needing to buy another £40million player, even if it is on the back of Sterling’s probable exit. The Blues need to reduce the size of their squad and while Sancho’s performances at Dortmund last season on the way to the Champions League final were a timely reminder of his talent, surely Chelsea have enough players to compensate for Sterling’s exit.
From the Manchester United angle, the club will welcome sales as they look to recoup funds following this summer’s spending spree, but will have to weigh up the fact that they would be selling to a rival. Sancho is valued at €30million by Transfermarkt, with two years, plus an option for another, left on his contract.
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