Jadon Sancho’s situation presents a dilemma for Chelsea as the player’s purple patch start to life in London ended long ago. He has become out of favour, yet the club is now obliged to pay a sum of £5 million to Manchester United should they refuse to exercise the £25 million obligation to make the deal permanent in the summer.
The dramas involved when top rivals exchange players have played out in this deal in just a few months. It is that the recipient is more delighted if the deal ends in a success, but the conferrer becomes even more delighted should the said player fail in their new environment.
The transaction between Manchester United and Chelsea on Jadon Sancho has so far played exactly to the script. The fact that Chelsea has an obligation should some clauses be met offered a sort of consolation to should the winger not thrive to United, the structure of it has now added to their joy of the prodigal winger is failing in London.
Sancho was able to convince not only Enzo Maresca but the Chelsea fan base in his early days. His recent performances ensured that the clause is activated and that he would be retained at Chelsea, or the club sacrifice a huge sum of £5 million for nothing. Of course, no one likes to spend on nothing, yet Chelsea’s hands may be forced.
While his impressive start to life led to Chelsea and fans taunting the Red Devils for their failure to get the best out of a player who was once one of the best in the world at what he does, that short spell now looks more like the best they’ll get in this deal, yet at a very costly price.
Earlier on, the Mancunian became the first Chelsea player to assist three goals in their first three Premier League games for the club, achieving a tie with Eden Hazard in 2012 and Cesc Fabregas in 2014 on the statistic.
He would continue to give the club more reason to belief till the middle of the final month of the year, scoring in back-to-back league games against Southampton and Spurs, while also delivering an incredible performance in the win over Brentford.
Thereon, he started to started to hit the downward slope and has since registered just one goal involvement in his last 18 appearances across all competitions, an assist to Cole Palmer in a 1-1 draw away to Palace earlier in January.
He completely lost his sparks, failing to deliver even though he now gets more opportunities due to the injury crisis at the club. In his last game before the international break, he was completely taken out of the game by 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly as Chelsea’s winless run against Arsenal reaches seven in a 1-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium.
The environment where he thought he would make his own also gave up on him. In February, Chelsea legend Mikel Obi criticized the former Borussia Dortmund man, stating that he came in and deceived the club with a few performances then fell off the grid.
The former Nigerian international said: “He (Jadon Sancho) came in and deceived us [Chelsea] with a couple of games, and we thought, ‘f****** hell, we are getting the Sancho from Dortmund’, but he’s gone again. I don’t know what happened to him, but he has disappeared off the grid.” Mikel Obi via obionepodcast
It is Manchester United, who was initially envious, and had pondered why players don’t do well in their shirts, that now has the laugh at this stage of the season, while also anticipating a payment of £5 million should Chelsea fail to exercise their £25 million obligation to make the deal permanent.
Jadon Sancho Breaking His Bonds With Manchester United
Sancho, who turns 25 on Tuesday this week has also overdone himself while having his short spell of good fortune with Chelsea. The Manchester City Academy alumnus continuously taunted United at every given opportunity.
One of his famous one was his reaction to Marcus Rashford’s six months loan move to Aston Villa. Sancho commented ‘Freedom’ under an IG post, where the former announced his move to the Villa Park.
This comment garnered a lot of attention from the Manchester United fans, while some neutrals also showed concerns about how unprofessional it was, moreso coming from a player who is practically still contract tied to the club. The incident led to him given the nickname ‘Freedom Fighter’ in the media space.
Now that there is a chance he returns to Manchester United in the summer, it does makes his already uncomfortable position more discomforting, because how does he even return to the club after being such a pain.
While his recent performances suggests he has no future at Chelsea, Manchester United will also not want to keep him, leaving the one-time best potential in football with the option of looking for a new club at the age of 25.
In addition, he has not been called up to the national team since November 2021, yet that would appear the least of his concerns. He has fallen short of the competition in the team, which continues to produce more talent at every period of call up.
To worsen matters, he is no longer an option for top teams in elite leagues, following his struggles which is closing in on four years. There have been lots of talented stars who failed to prime, and Sancho well placed to fall on that list, if he doesn’t find a permanent solution to his form, and persona.
Kehinde-Hassan Afolabi
