Manchester United: 3 alternatives to signing Jadon Sancho
Manchester United continue to be closely linked with Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho. But given that he’ll cost at least £120 million, are there any alternatives?
Sancho is undoubtedly the ideal player to fill Manchester United’s right wing. He is still only 20, he’s English, and has recorded incredible numbers in the Bundesliga over the last couple of seasons.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to claim that he’s among the top 5 wingers in Europe at the moment. As an added bonus, he’s a graduate of Manchester City’s academy – a transfer would surely annoy the noisy neighbours.
In the current landscape though, this signing might not be as straightforward as before. While United are the only real suitors, the coronavirus pandemic could place restrictions on United’s otherwise near-bottomless well of transfer funds.
Swap deals seem to be the ideal way to go about transfers for several clubs across Europe, with selling teams likely to gain an advantage at the negotiating table unless they desperately need the money.
So who else would Manchester United realistically target in the summer? We take a look at 3 exciting alternatives to Sancho:
3. Marcus Thuram (Borussia Monchengladbach)
The pressure of having a famous last name in football is sometimes too much to handle for some players, but you wouldn’t think that watching Lilian Thuram‘s son play.
Having started out at Sochaux, Marcus began to turn some heads while playing for Guingamp in Ligue 1. He registered an impressive 9 goals last season playing at left wing, attracting enough attention for Borussia Monchengladbach to spend €12 million, replacing Thorgan Hazard.
Thuram would better be described as a ‘wide forward’ rather than a winger – a player who consistently tries to get into the penalty box to create and score goals.
He’s registered 6 goals and 8 assists in his debut Bundesliga campaign. Even more impressive is that fact that he has the best shooting accuracy in the German top flight at 76.3%, in a league that also contains the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Marco Reus and Serge Gnabry.
He might have made his name at left wing, but his style of play involves a lot of short passing and linking up, which means he would be at home on the right as well. At the age of 22, he’s already a player ready for the Premier League while still having a lot of room for improvement.