Premier League leaders Liverpool have joined the race to sign England international Jadon Sancho from Borrusia Dortmund for £100million in the summer. The Reds made their intention known to the German club after reports on Wednesday claimed that the 19-year-old will leave at the end of the season.
The England forward has been in superb form this season alongside Dortmund’s new signing Erling Haaland, scoring 12 goals and 14 assists in 19 Bundesliga matches. Sancho emerged as the youngest player in Germany to reach 25 Bundesliga goals last month. He also won the Kopa Trophy and was the runner up for the Golden award.
Sancho, who was a former Manchester City player, left England in the summer of 2017 and broke into England national team. The youngster has been linked to Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid, and Barcelona.
He has also been linked to his former club City, who are also expected to launch a bid. Reports, however, claimed that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side are favourites to secure a deal for the youngster.
Earlier in the season, Sancho endured a difficult time and had disciplinary problems in Dortmund. The winger was left out of the squad to play Borussia Monchengladbach in October after returning late from international duty.
The club management fined him a week’s wages for contravening the club policy. He was also benched for a Champions League clash against Barcelona last month after turning up late for a team meeting.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp would hope his connections with Dortmund would help his side secure the deal for the winger who is among the brightest football stars. Klopp managed the German side for seven years and has a good relationship with Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc.
Klopp revealed in January his love and admiration for Sancho but admitted that it would be very difficult to price the forward away from his former club. He, however, commended Dortmund for the signing of Sancho for £8m from City.
He said: ‘Buying English players is a smart idea because we would never have a chance to get Sancho. We are not blind — we saw him, we liked him and then we think, “Can we get him?” No. Because English clubs don’t sell to other English clubs.”
