Jadon Sancho is 26, out of contract, and turning up at the training ground of Flixton FC, a tenth-tier side on the outskirts of Manchester, to keep himself fit. His representatives, meanwhile, have made the pitch of the transfer window: a Premier League-standard winger available on a free to a club in English football’s second tier.
According to talkSPORT, Sancho’s advisers have offered the player to West Ham United. The club, relegated from the Premier League last season, is the Championship team his camp has approached as they look for a route back into senior football.
There is a problem. Reports in English media put Sancho’s wage expectations close to the £250,000 a week he earned at Old Trafford. West Ham, now a second-tier club, are not thought to be willing to go near that figure, and the broader market has already made that clear: Spanish side Getafe tabled a deal worth less than £10,000 a week, which Sancho’s camp walked away from.
Parker inherits the Sancho question
West Ham appointed Scott Parker as head coach on 4 November, a day after sacking Nuno Espirito Santo. Parker, 46, has signed a two-and-a-half year contract and arrives with a specific calling card: three Championship promotions, with Fulham in 2019-20, Bournemouth in 2021-22, and Burnley in 2024-25. The club sits eighth, six points off leaders Middlesbrough.
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Parker’s first public line was about family, not transfers.
“It is a very proud moment for me to step into this role and return to a club that means so much to me and my family,” he said in the club’s announcement.
Whether a Sancho deal reaches his desk at all is unclear. The initial reporting noted there was no indication West Ham intended to pursue a signing, and the approach came from Sancho’s side rather than the club’s.
Dortmund wonderkid to free agent
Sancho was Manchester United’s statement signing of the 2021 summer window, bought from Borussia Dortmund for £73m after four seasons in Germany that made him one of the most coveted young wingers in Europe. His five years at Old Trafford did not deliver: a public falling-out with manager Erik ten Hag, a loan return to Dortmund that ended with a Champions League final, a loan spell at Chelsea, and a loan at Aston Villa where he played well but Villa ultimately walked away from a permanent deal over his wages.
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He became a free agent on 1 July, and since then he has been seen in training kit on a Flixton pitch. The club issued a short public statement clarifying that he was not on trial and not in talks to sign, but was using the facilities for private fitness sessions while weighing his options.
Parker took charge of his first West Ham match on the evening of 4 November, at home to Cardiff City. Sancho’s camp, meanwhile, is weighing a reported approach from an unnamed Saudi Arabian club alongside the Championship pitch they have themselves made to the Hammers.
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