Therein lies the problem for us. If prices are more reasonable next season, a player of Sancho’s current ability and future potential will have every one of the top clubs in Europe vying for his signature. If United don’t pull the trigger on this signing given his willingness to come, our needs as a team, and the lack of any rivals for his signature at this time, we may well love to regret it for a very long time in my opinion.
I don't think that'll be the case. We're one of the more financially insulated clubs around and I'm sure, if the situation was fine, we'd have been willing to pay the £108m required from Dortmund right now, which is something the other clubs wouldn't have ever countenanced.
While we're not spending now, these funds will predominantly be kept where they are. The same can't be said of the other clubs who have spent this year. That money won't have come from a magic money tree. It seems that we are expecting next summer to be an even more depressed market, and the clubs who have splurged now, won't be the ones who will be spending much next summer because they won't have the funds to spend on the scale required.
Of the teams who could realistically rival us for him, there's
Real, who are currently balancing their books because they are a) having a stadium rebuild in the middle of a global pandemic and recession, and b), if they are looking to buy a player, would have their eyes firmly set on Mbappe.
PSG are struggling to meet even the most lightest of FFP requirements this year, and while they could be forced to sell Mbappe (I personally don't think that will be happening), I don't see Sancho willing to spend his peak years in France, because as we saw with Verratti, it will be more likely to get blood out of a stone, no matter what Sancho's feelings would be.
Liverpool might be the challengers if they sell one of Mane or Salah, but tbh I don't see either of the big two in Spain (and that is probably the only realistic market for them) being interested in them, for various reasons, and I don't think they'll have a great season this year (I know, mad to say after their start, but I really do think that will be the case this year). Even so, the wages and fees involved in completing the deal would probably have FSG backing away. I don't see Barca or Chelsea being in the mix for different reasons.
We blew everyone out of the water when the finances were fine, and we'll likely blow them away when the finances aren't fine and we're one of the very few clubs who are reasonably insulated against the financial impacts of Covid.
There are no briefings (not that clubs in Germany do these kind of things anyway) and the only statements of Dortmund officials are disclaimers when journalists ask them if one of those twitter rumors are true. You know, there's an equivalent to this thread on the biggest German football forum, transfermarkt.de. It was closed after August 10 and reopened after the insider stories that United had agreed personal terms with Sancho (to the bewilderment of most fans). There hasn't been a single post in it since 5 days. Nobody talks about this over here and that's because this rumor is dead in the German media landscape.
