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DORTMUND. — Manchester United’s pursuit of Jadon Sancho this summer appears all but over after Borussia Dortmund insisted the England international will play for the Bundesliga giants next season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have been in hot pursuit of the England star and were still hopeful of getting a mega-money deal over the line despite missing Dortmund’s deadline to sign him earlier today.
But yesterday, Dortmund chief Michael Zorc insisted United have no chance of signing Sancho now after he jetted off with his team-mates to Switzerland for a pre-season training camp.
Zorc said: “We plan with Jadon Sancho. He’ll play for us next season. The decision is final. I think that answers all of the questions.”
Zorc also went on to reveal that the club secretly renewed Sancho’s contract until 2023 a year ago. German newspaper Ruhr Nachrichten — based in Dortmund — have reported that Sancho’s contract does not include a buy-out clause.
United and Dortmund were understood to have been far apart in terms of valuation, with the latter’s CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke resolute in holding out for a huge £108m for their prized asset.
Sancho boarded the plane for Dortmund’s pre-season training camp in Switzerland at 9am yesterday — a point at which the Bundesliga runners-up had said any deal with United would be off the table.
United, for their part, remain confident of landing Sancho, their No 1 target in this summer’s window.
Sancho is part of a 31-strong Dortmund group — which also includes 17-year-old sensation Jude Bellingham — that travelled to Switzerland’s Grand Resort Bad Ragaz for an eight-day training camp.
And Zorc was quick to confirm that United’s move for Sancho was off during his press conference on Monday afternoon in Switzerland.
Ed Woodward and the rest of the Old Trafford hierarchy were understood to have been relaxed about the situation prior to Zorc’s defiant message, insisting any deadline is purely artificial.
Dortmund, and Zorc in particular, have said this before only for things to turn out otherwise. Ousmane Dembele had been heavily linked with Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City in the summer of 2017 but Zorc insisted that he would stay put.
Zorc attempted to quash talk that Dembele was on his way out of Dortmund, saying there was ‘no way’ he would go.
But that would come back to haunt Zorc as Dembele would go on to seal a £196m deal to Barcelona at the end of August in 2017 after going on strike. — Mailonline.
Online Reporter