You really want an answer? Because the answer is actually pretty damn boring. They gave statements about Jadon Sancho because they were asked about him. Thats it. Every statement bar Zorcs declarations on this Monday were interview answers.
So why wasn’t Sancho asked when he was standing on the side of the pitch during the friendly? Bit odd to ask everyone except the man himself... “Everyone in a five mile radius has commented on your future so can you now confirm you will definitely be staying next season Jadon?” Biggest story of the week. Chance to get a massive scoop and ask the question everyone wants answered. Either that’s one hell of an incompetent journalist or they were briefed not to ask the question and just ask questions about the match and Bellingham settling into the squad. I’m going with the latter. I’m not saying he’ll end up leaving but you’d have to be insanely naive to think things still aren’t happening in the background.
And for all those saying there’s no way Dortmund are bluffing. If you start with the assumption that this is all about maximising the price then absolutely nothing has happened that wouldn’t be expected. There’s no point doing it whilst also leaking hints that Sancho will still be sold is there? You have to go all in to sell it particularly when they’re the boy who cried wolf when it comes to this stuff. As to why they’re doing it? Sancho wants to leave. There is one buyer in town. Dortmund have been hit particularly badly by the loss of crowd money. Those three things are objective facts. That’s an incredibly weak hand to negotiate with. So how’d you turn the tables on that? You tell everyone an inflated price then set a deadline you know is incredibly unlikely to be met. Why? Because you’ve just told the world Manchester United had the chance to get their number one target for the summer and blew it. Now the story is all about how the club has failed to back Ole, Glaziers out, Woody is incompetent again etc. It’s an attempt to heap the pressure on the other side and panic them into paying top whack and stop the negativity because missing out on him is a PR disaster.
It’s a pretty clever strategy. The problem is objectively at this point nothing has actually changed. Sancho still wants to leave. We’re still the only buyer in town. Dortmund have been hit badly by the pandemic. Now it’s clear from what we’re briefing that we think Dortmund want and may even need to sell this summer. If that’s true then every day closer to the window closing increases the chances of that price coming down. You just have to stay the course. Dortmund are going to want it to be done relatively soon so they get a replacement in so if all these assumptions are correct then you’d think maybe in 2/3 weeks movement in negotiations could happen.
On the other hand the assumptions could be utter bollocks, it isn’t a bluff, Sancho will announce he’s staying and the club will end up looking very silly. It’s definitely possible but I do think what we’re attempting is based in a semblance of logic at least.