When Manchester United signed Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth £73million in 2021, he was so highly thought of that many believed United had got the forward for a relative bargain.
But fast forward to 2025 and Chelsea have just paid a £5million ($6.8m) penalty clause to United rather than continue to negotiate personal terms with Sancho to make a proposed £24m loan move permanent. A lot of money has changed hands for Sancho’s services over the past five years. Unfortunately, the forward has been unable to find a settled environment.
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Aged 25 and separated from the weight of expectation and hype that followed his early years, his football career has reached another crossroads.
The version of United that Sancho left last summer is different to the one that is there now. Erik ten Hag — with whom he publicly fell out — is no longer at Old Trafford, and his successor as head coach, Ruben Amorim, favours a 3-4-3 tactical shape that Sancho has limited experience playing in. There’s a talented football player within Sancho, but he will need to find a team that will help him flourish.
Where could he head next? The Athletic takes a look.
What is Jadon Sancho good at?
Sancho’s Chelsea spell showed glimpses of the situations he thrives in. Despite head coach Enzo Maresca’s quest for control through measured build-up, Chelsea defaulted to quickening the pace when backed into a corner. This resulted in more open games where Sancho looked at home.
The Conference League final against Real Betis, when he was brought on with Chelsea trailing 1-0, was one example. With Maresca’s side overturning the deficit with two goals in five minutes, Betis’ chase for an equaliser kept the game open, and Sancho scored. In the Premier League, three of Sancho’s 12 shots across 31 matches came from fast breaks (defined by Opta as a shot created by a team winning the ball in their own half). He scored in the 5-1 win at Southampton, saw his effort saved by Alisson at Liverpool, and shot wide against West Ham United.
Sancho struggled when Chelsea went up against low blocks due to his tendency to drift wide, as he does not have the pace to carry the ball for long distances without giving defenders a chance. He averaged 5.3 take-ons per 90 minutes with a reasonable success rate of 42 per cent, but ranked third-from-last among wingers in winning fouls, at just 0.6 per 90. Too many of his dribbles were aimless or ended in backwards passes.
Sancho possesses other useful traits, such as his positioning to receive and control long passes when Chelsea attempted to speed things up, as he does below against Brentford.
Sancho looked at his best when attacking defences that were shifting over following a switch of play. His pressing and defensive effort improved during the season, too.
Maresca continued to select Sancho as a result, but paired him with another winger on the left in the latter stages of the season. Often, this was Cole Palmer, with the increased attention he received giving Sancho space out wide to receive passes, as below against Fulham.
The other concern with Sancho was the lack of runs in behind due to his preference to stay wide. That, combined with his reduced creativity and lack of shooting, meant he had a habit of drifting in and out of games.
Why has he had trouble showing this for United and Chelsea?
For all of Sancho’s creative talents, his lack of explosive pace limits his suitability for top Premier League teams.
The 25-year-old’s difficulty when carrying the ball across longer distances means he is best deployed ahead of an athletic full-back who can provide overlapping runs. In Sancho’s best years at Dortmund, when playing on the right, he was paired with Achraf Hakimi and Thomas Meunier. The runs of both helped eke out space for Sancho during one-v-one duels against defenders, from which he would then look to attack the half spaces.
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In 2023, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer explained some of Sancho’s early difficulties at Old Trafford.
“When he arrived, he had to go to hospital and that was a setback. He’s immensely talented and we haven’t seen the best of him. I hope we do, but he prefers to play left wing… where Marcus (Rashford) plays.”
United lacked the right-backs to help Sancho bypass Premier League defences, so he preferred to play on the left, where Luke Shaw operated. This left-sided orientation continued to a degree at Chelsea due to their assortment of full-backs. He was tested in central areas for United (as an attacking midfielder and as a false nine), but he was not a prolific creator.
Sancho’s lack of defensive intensity compared to other Premier League leading lights (Bruno Fernandes, Martin Odegaard, Anthony Gordon) makes him an awkward fit with teams wishing to compete in the Champions League. His runs in behind have decreased in recent seasons and combined with his reduced creativity and lack of shooting, he tends to drift in and out of games, where top Premier League sides want their wide players to be assertive in all phases of play.
It is unlikely, but not impossible, that Sancho will be retained for United’s 2025-26 season. If he were to play under Amorim, he would best fit into one of the ‘No 10’ (attacking midfield) positions.
However, the addition of Matheus Cunha and pursuit of Bryan Mbeumo suggest Sancho is not at the forefront of Amorim’s thinking.
Sancho is not the strongest, fastest or most aggressive player in an attack. He tries to be the quickest thinker on the pitch and prospers when having team-mates who can respond to his wavelength and do his heavy running.
Which clubs suit Sancho’s playing style?
A move away from the Premier League would be ideal for Sancho given his struggles in England. That said, finances will be restrictive.
He could follow the path taken by Antony, who found his best form on loan at Real Betis in the second half of last season. Villarreal is an option in La Liga, with reports in Spain suggesting left-winger Alex Baena could depart this summer. Villarreal secured a Champions League spot by playing fast-paced football under head coach Marcelino. As the graph below shows, they ranked second in shots from fast breaks across the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A — behind only Liverpool.
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Opta defines a fast break as “an attempt created after the defensive team quickly turn defence into attack after winning the ball in their own half”
Villarreal left-back Sergi Cardona overlaps to good effect and would, in theory, dovetail well with Sancho.
An alternative would be Lyon of France’s Ligue 1, who will need attacking reinforcements this summer. Manchester City are hopeful of signing Rayan Cherki, while Alexandre Lacazette will depart the Ligue 1 side at the end of his contract.
Lyon favour a slower possession style than Villarreal, but are not averse to speeding things up, scoring a league-high eight goals from ‘direct attacks’ (defined as open-play sequences starting just inside the team’s own half and moving at least 50 per cent towards the opposition’s goal before ending in a shot or a touch in the opposition’s box).
If Georges Mikautadze becomes Lyon’s starting centre-forward following Lacazette’s departure, his tendency to drift to the left should give Sancho the kind of support he received from Palmer at Chelsea.
Sancho would have big shoes to fill, though. Cherki, who made a remarkable cameo for France as a substitute against Spain, recorded 32 goal contributions in 44 matches in the 2024-25 season.
Milan are another option for Sancho.
The Italian side finished eighth in Serie A in 2024-25 and will be undergoing another transitional period following the dismissal of head coach Sergio Conceicao. Massimiliano Allegri will be Milan’s manager for the upcoming season and the 57-year-old has a reputation for sacrificing individual attacking brio for collective defensive solidity.
If Sancho wants to follow a similar path to Kyle Walker, Fikayo Tomori, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham, there is scope for him as a squad option at the Italian club.
It would not be a seamless tactical fit, especially if Theo Hernandez departs the club this summer, as many expect. Alex Jimenez is a young but promising full-back who could offer some of Hernandez’s attacking output, but Allegri may be reluctant to commit a defender forward to get the most out of Sancho.
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The development of Davide Bartesaghi adds a further wrinkle. Allegri’s history with three at the back could see Sancho deployed as a No 10.
Milan would be the most left-field option for Sancho. The potential sale of Tijjani Reijnders to Manchester City and growing interest in goalkeeper Mike Maignan suggest another summer of upheaval for them. A Sancho arrival would also require him to share playing time with the superlative Rafael Leao if he wishes to play on the left.
Could Borussia Dortmund go for a third reunion? With Chelsea submitting a proposal to sign Jamie Gittens and a seven-year contract agreed, there would be an opening on the left.
Dortmund is the closest thing Sancho has to a footballing home. He was one of the world’s best young players before his 2021 departure to United, and during his six-month loan in 2023-24, he helped in their journey to the Champions League final.
The curious element of Sancho’s return to Dortmund last year came in how he played nearly as many Bundesliga games on the right wing (eight) as he did on the left (six). That is partly down to the assortment of full-backs then-coach Edin Terzic paired him with: Meunier on the right and Ian Maatsen (who now plays for Aston Villa) on the left were especially responsive to Sancho’s frequent calls for overlapping runs.
Sancho played 87 minutes during the 2-0 Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid. The starting line-up on that day looked like this:
Since January 2025, Dortmund have been led by head coach Niko Kovac, who switched the team shape to a 3-4-2-1 in early spring.
If he continues to do so throughout this summer’s Club World Cup and beyond, then Sancho would be best used as a No 10.
Kovac favours a more structured attack compared to Terzic. Sancho’s want for creative freedom may jar with the 53-year-old’s methods. There is also a financial barrier, making a third spell in Germany (or indeed a move to a team in Turkey or Portugal) difficult. Navigating a permanent move away from Old Trafford will likely require a re-evaluation of his wage packet.
Sancho appears to be someone who does his best when he is settled. He’ll need a new club for next season to deliver on his long-talked-about talent.
(Top photo: George Wood/Getty Images)
