The remnants of COVID this summer suggest at least to me that transfer fees won't be what selling clubs like Dortmund would normally wish for. We'll see about that, but Normal just isn't here yet.
Do we really believe that each of Grealish and Sancho will go for 90m each? I really don't see that happening. But let's say that each goes for 80m each. If we sell Pogba for 75m, which should not be unimaginable (closer to 100m in a Normal time, right?), we can afford both Jack and Jadon this summer. It remains to be seen whether they would be willing to join United, but I don't see them going to City (seems Haaland will, however) and I don't see Liverpool and Chelsea being interested. I suppose we can't rule out Spurs taking a sniff at either, but objectively speaking United is the superior club on almost every count, except the stadium and living in London.
The headwinds against this thesis are the following:
- Dortmund will sell Haaland and thus are unlikely to sell Sancho as well.
- We arguably need a top CDM more than we need both Grealish and Sancho.
It's hard to argue against either of these points but Dortmund cashing in on both Haaland and Sancho may not be that impossible to imagine. Dortmund have proven an incredible ability to find and attract young gems to their club. They'd probably rake in 225m between the sale of those two and can accomplish a great deal by retooling with young gems that we rarely ever seem to be able to find ourselves.
As for the CDM, there's no doubt it's a real need. But if we sell Pogba we need a Pogba replacement and I'm not sure that Donny is the answer. I really like Donny, but I don't see him as the Pogba replacement -- Grealish is the Pogba replacement. And if we believe Greenwood is the future at CF then we have a hole at RW and despite Diallo's potential I see Sancho as the obvious answer there. We can make do with the players we have at CDM and bed Garner in and see if he can develop into the next Carrick. I don't know if he is can be the next Carrick, but I'm ok with giving him a real chance.