Sir Jim Ratcliffe makes decision on terminating Sancho’s Man Utd contract

Carlo Garganese

• 2 Jan 2024 13:08 GMT
• 3 min read

Manchester United will not terminate Jadon Sancho’s Man Utd contract.

That is according to a report in the Athletic on Tuesday, which claims that tearing up the winger’s deal would be too costly.

In order to release Sancho, United would have to pay off the remainder of his contract that runs until 2027.

With Sancho earning over €15 million a year, this would make a big dent in Man Utd’s accounts. It would also have a big effect on Man Utd staying on the right side of the FFP line.

So new investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Man Utd hierarchy have come to the decision to not release him on a free.

Sky Sports reported last month that Manchester United would consider severing ties with Sancho if they are unable to sell the player this month.

The 23-year-old has been completely frozen out of the squad at Man Utd for months now.

It came after Ten Hag criticised Sancho publicly for his poor performances in training, which was followed by the winger essentially calling his manager a liar on social media.

Sancho has not been called up since the incident and has been barred from training with the first team, as well as using their facilities and canteen.

Sancho has also been deleted from the team’s WhatsApp group by Ten Hag.

Man Utd struggling to sell Sancho

United have transfer listed him and are trying to sell him in January.

A return to Borussia Dortmund has been touted, while some Serie A and Saudi clubs are also reportedly interested, including Juventus.

Bayer Leverkusen, RB Leipzig and VfB Stuttgart have all reportedly explored a move for Sancho, too.

However, so far, no one appears interested in paying a transfer fee for Sancho while even a loan move would need to be subsidized by United due to his big wages.

Given all these difficulties in offloading Sancho, Sky reported that United would consider releasing the player from his contract.

But the Athletic says this is not true.

United spent a massive transfer fee of €85 million on the player to bring him from Borussia Dortmund just two-and-a-half years ago.

He has scored just 12 goals in 82 appearances and has regularly been a bench player during his time at the club.

He has also lost his place in the England national team squad and he knows he must move in January if he is to have a chance of going to Euro 2024 next summer.