Borussia Dortmund: Can the club keep Jadon Sancho?
By Trent Nelson
Few teams around the world seem to collect and hold on to talent like Borussia Dortmund of the Bundesliga; Jadon Sancho is a shining example of this.
Between names like Marco Reus and Mario Gotze, now elder statesmen at the club, Julian Brandt, Thorgan Hazard, Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho himself, the team is beyond stacked with some of the richest talents in Europe. Sancho is always being rumoured as close to leaving for his native England, but this time, it may hold weight.
Manchester United know they must get another high profile signing, along the lines of Bruno Fernandes; Jadon Sancho is that without question. His tenacity on the wing could cause fits for teams contending with Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial or whomever the team chooses as the third piece.
With this understood, can Borussia Dortmund hold on to the talent they have, if only for one more campaign, with their ultra stacked starting XI?
Borussia Dortmund: A relatively big fish, with a sea just around the way
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Dortmund is a club which grows and shrinks based on perspective; from that of players coming up, for whom the club offers a chance at a major team, they are immense. From that perspective of the player after fr to five years, it oftentimes appears small, confining and even prohibitive; time and experiences certainly alter perception more than most things certainly.
For almost all the current, young Dortmund players, this must certainly have been a feeling they felt in reaching, likely, the second most glorified club in German football. It is likely the players felt these things further upon winning trophies with Borussia Dortmund; Bayern doesn’t win them all you know.
But after a few years, new challenges become appealing and boundaries appear that were perhaps simply never noticed previously. Other leagues appear full of talent, innovation and opportunity to lift new trophies, to achieve new ends and to grow in new settings.
This is the issue Dortmund possesses, they are the lake between the pond and the sea; seldom the ultimate destination, but always a useful stop along the way.
Can Dortmund keep Sancho from Manchester United?
With the aforementioned understood, the question becomes clear; no. While Borussia Dortmund will likely keep the breadth of the other names mentioned in Germany, Sancho will depart for Manchester. For him, the circumstance is too promising, too cathartic and too fantastic to pass up; his fate is not necessarily that of his talented teammates, however.
For the names like Thorgan Hazard, Julian Brandt, Erling Haaland and more, Dortmund will have them for a few years long at the very least; rumours have swirled that Haaland may be gone after just months in Germany but I find that reactionary in its analysis; Haaland has been incredible but he still has much to prove and improve on at this stop in his young career.
These realizations are bittersweet, unfortunately; with a long term, well-respected manager, the players may be less apt to leave consistently. Sadly, the team stands at a similar juncture for managers as well as players; a stepping stone team to the next job; recently, Dortmund managers have become heads of Liverpool and PSG after all.
If Sancho remained at Dortmund, the team surely would have its best chance at European and German contention with an absolutely stout lineup of brilliant talent; the money and the fame of England and the Premier League may be too much to pass up, even with all of the positives Dortmund has over United.
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With the deal said close to be completed, United will have an absolute dynamo on the wing; that will be difficult to remedy for years, by any manager or club in the Premier League. Dortmund have the scouting, the depth and the foundation to continue on, with cash in pocket, hardly the worse off; it stands to reaffirm however, that the possibilities of Borussia Dortmund are much greater with a talent like Jadon Sancho on the club, and that will certainly be missed by his exit.