AS Roma director Claudio Ranieri has revealed why Jadon Sancho’s proposed switch to the Serie A club fell through, with Manchester United ultimately forced to explore alternative options. At the start of the summer transfer window, Sancho’s future appeared increasingly uncertain.
Despite Chelsea agreeing an obligation to purchase deal in 2024, the Blues ultimately paid a £5m penalty after failing to agree personal terms with the winger. Whilst this generated some revenue for United, challenges persisted regarding how they would handle the Sancho predicament this year.
Prior to returning for pre-season training, the 25-year-old informed the Reds that he wanted to leave the club before the window shut. Sancho was amongst five players who formed part of the so-called ‘bomb squad’ and were kept separate from the rest of the first-team group.
Fortunately, Roma developed genuine interest in the England international, and it appeared only a matter of time before he relocated to Italy. However, that proved not to be the scenario, and eventually United succeeded in arranging a loan switch to Aston Villa for the winger, on deadline day.
Until now, it remained unclear why Sancho’s transfer to Roma collapsed, but Ranieri has finally provided insight into the circumstances. Speaking to Sky Sport Italia, the former Chelsea and Leicester City manager explained: “It was a very expensive operation economically, but the Friedkins would have done it to please the coach.
“Of course, someone needed to be sold. Until a valuable player was sold, it couldn’t be done.
“I don’t think that a valuable player would have ever been sold, because we want to keep them at the moment. We had to bring in young players with the hope that the coach makes the most out of them so that we can resell them to fall within the parameters of Financial Fair Play (FFP).”
United are no strangers themselves to the perils of FFP which is why it was so crucial for them to find Sancho a new destination.The Reds did manage to secure other departures to balance out their wage bill accordingly.
Rasmus Hojlund, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho were amongst the notable exits before deadline day. Goalkeeper Andre Onana is also anticipated to depart before Turkey’s window shuts at the end of this week, joining Trabzonspor on loan.
