Wait for it...
....
Sancho + Greenwood for 10+ years
Greenwood gets injured, who’s playing there?
Sancho covers 4 positions, if you can buy him, you buy him.
I just don’t see us spending so much money on him in the current climate.
The way this pandemic is going, a second and third wave are not far off and who knows how much longer we’ll miss out on revenues going forward. Could get prolonged into next year and if we spend all this money on Sancho we may jeapordize our transfer planning not just for this summer but maybe another window or two. Long term wise that’s a dangerous risk to take.
I think we need to ensure Greenwood keeps progressing and buy a cheaper alternative to Sancho and test him out for a year until Sancho becomes available for a cheaper price.
By that time, Ighalo might be gone, or James may prove he’s just not good enough with little to no improvement, and we will have no issue making space for Sancho.
Currently, the way the starting 11 is looking, I think we need backup for Bruno/Pogba to ensure our creativity level doesn’t drop if either of them gets injured.
We also need a CB as I just don’t see Lindelof/Bailly complimenting Maguire like they need to. And we’re one injury away from not having a choice anyways. The top 6 and Arsenal/Wolves/Sheffield/Everton will only get better next year and it’s important to have a solid CB partnership to ensure we don’t concede silly goals next year.
In my eyes, Greenwood’s emergence has and will be pivotal in making the right decisions budget wise this summer. We need to spend wisely and cautiously specially if Dortmund are being so hell bent on not lowering the price from €120m which is just too much!
The only way I see us getting Sancho is if we literally get rid of all the following players; Lingard/Smalling/Jones/Sanchez.
There’s no way we will only end up buying Sancho so the need to get rid of the aforementioned players will allow us to free up sufficient funds for Sancho while allowing us to sign 1/2 more players.
That would be a good window in my opinion.
Edit: Also forgot to mention we need a proper DM replacement for Matic right away. I think Fred should be considered backup for Pogba and McT is still a year or two away from becoming the finished article in either of the two positions even if Ole is trying to groom him that way.