Dortmund CEO reveals key reason why Sancho wanted to leave for Man Utd

Nicholas Hughes

• 27 Sept 2021 10:20 BST
• 5 min read

Manchester United finally secured their main transfer target in the summer, with Jadon Sancho joining from Borussia Dortmund in a £73 million move.

And Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has revealed a potentially key reason why the 21-year-old wanted to return to England.

He said that Sancho has felt underappreciated in England and by the English national team, and hence his motive for a move back home was to try and improve his national team prospects.

“I think his problem is that he’s not set in the English national team,” Watzke told Sport1.

“I love Jadon Sancho. When you see him playing, you get tears in your eyes. It hurts my soul that he is given so little consideration.”

Sancho had to fight for a spot in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the Euros in the summer just gone, and was even dropped all together for one of the camps just prior to the tournament.

Sancho featured minimally for England at Euro 2020 before moving to Man Utd

After playing his way into the side, Sancho only made three appearances for the Three Lions, with just one start and two substitute appearances that accumulated less than 10 minutes combined.

With the likes of Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish providing competition for the wide roles and all playing in the Premier League, Sancho has clearly identified a need to shine on home soil in front of the England boss.

Sancho’s tenure at Old Trafford has endured a stuttering start so far, with no goals or assists in his first five Premier League appearances, and just two starts in that time.

The former Manchester City academy product rose to prominence across four seasons in Germany, where he managed 38 goals and 45 assists in 104 Bundesliga appearances.