Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund have concluded a deal for Jadon Sancho to join the Bundesliga club on loan for the rest of the season. The package is worth €4 million to United in terms of a loan fee and partial coverage of the winger’s salary.
Sancho will take a medical before signing for Dortmund, who do not have an option to buy him. Sancho thrived at Dortmund from 2017-2021, prompting United to pay an initial £73 million (€85 million) for him, but his time at Old Trafford has turned sour and he has not played for more than four months.
Sancho has been frozen out of the first-team picture after refusing to apologise to Erik ten Hag for effectively calling the manager a liar. When Sancho was left out for the 3-1 defeat at Arsenal, Ten Hag said it was because the England international had not met the standards required in training. Soon after, Sancho posted on social media that the explanation was “completely untrue”.
Dortmund are making a second loan signing from the Premier League in the Chelsea left-back Ian Maatsen. The Dutchman has completed his medical and Dortmund will have priority to buy him in June after Chelsea agreed to extend his contract to 2027 and include a release clause.
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Meanwhile, Tottenham have beaten off competition from Bayern Munich to make the Genoa central defender Radu Dragusin their second January signing in a €30m deal.
Spurs improved their offer overnight and the 21-year-old Romania international is due to fly to London on Wednesday for a medical before signing his contract and following Timo Werner in joining this month.
Going in the opposite direction is the full-back Djed Spence, who will spend the rest of the season on loan at Genoa, with Spurs continuing to pay his wages. Spence was recalled from a loan at Leeds last week and Genoa have an option to buy him in June for about €10m.
Dragusin, who can also fill in at right-back, will cost a guaranteed €25m plus easily achievable add-ons. It represents sound business for Genoa, who signed him from Juventus for a bit more than €5m and add-ons after he impressed on loan. He came through the academy at Juventus and also spent time on loan at Sampdoria and Salernitana. Juve will get 20% of the fee for Dragusin.
Bayern sent a bid to try to hijack Tottenham’s pursuit of Dragusin but will have to focus on other targets for the position. They have an agreement on a contract with Spurs’ Eric Dier.
Elsewhere, West Ham have revised their transfer plans and are urgently chasing attacking signings after further tests on Lucas Paquetá's calf injury raised fears the midfielder will be sidelined for two months.
David Moyes has a selection crisis in attack, with Michail Antonio out for up to six weeks with a knee injury, Jarrod Bowen out for at least a fortnight with an ankle injury, Paquetá unavailable and Mohammed Kudus representing Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations.
West Ham had been planning for a quiet January and were understood to be focusing mainly on signing a centre-back in the event of Nayef Aguerd leaving. But the latest update on Paquetá, who is seeing a specialist, will force them into the market for attacking additions. They are tracking the Ajax winger Steven Bergwijn and the Sunderland winger Jack Clarke and have a longstanding interest in the Paris Saint-Germain forward Hugo Ekitike. Sporting’s Marcus Edwards is another player of interest. - Guardian
