Even if what you say is true, that is far from any sort of unbecoming behaviour. Just because Dortmund want 120m, doesn’t mean we have to want to pay it. We knew that we wouldn’t pay it, and we knew that if they had not changed their stance by the end of the window, that we obviously won’t sign the player - because we knew we were not going to pay 120m.Reports in Germany suggest Dortmund was annoyed by United trying to play 5d chest when they just wanted to do straight forward business. No waiting games, no cheeky last minute bids, no negotiating, no secret media briefings, no leaked infos to Twitter insiders, just a price tag with a dead line, take it or leave it. Basically like an extension clause. Apparently this was also why Dortmund insisted on intermediaries.
I think during the Sancho saga two different world views collided. United applied bargaining tactics, confident that Dortmund is doing the same and would give in eventually, while the latter had absolutely no intentions to do so at all.
Don't shoot the messenger.
Be that as it may, we have every right to try to negotiate a quote if we choose to. It takes two. And there is no deadline, the only deadline is the one imposed by FIFA to complete the deal. United also said that this deadline was never communicated to them by Dortmund anyway.
We could never be ‘confident’ Dortmund would give in, but we are entitled to hope that they do. And it is their right to refuse to, and the outcome of that can only be confirmed at the close of the transfer window, not some BS window that they had created. Dortmund set a deadline for us to complete a British record deal which was before our season has even finished, which was always ridiculous from the very start.