Manchester United will have to pay up to £100,000-a-week towards Jadon Sancho’s wages to push through his return to Borussia Dortmund.
Talks between the two clubs are progressing over a loan deal that will see Sancho end his United misery by rejoining Dortmund on loan until the end of the season.
The final sticking point is understood to be Sancho’s £290,000-a-week salary which is well above Dortmund’s pay ceiling. The Bundesliga club are insisting that United contribute a third of the cost, Confidential understands.
Old Trafford sources won’t comment on the specifics of the deal but confirm that a large majority of Sancho’s wages will be covered by Dortmund, and additional payments are built into the deal based on the 23-year-old’s appearances and the Germans qualifying for the Champions League. It’s understood there will be no obligation to buy the player at the end of the season.
United will certainly view paying a portion of Sancho’s wages and putting him in the shop window as preferable to footing the whole bill while he trains and eats on his own at Carrington, which has been the case since he made the last of his three appearances this season in late August following a public fall-out with manager Erik ten Hag.
Manchester United will have to pay up to £100,000-a-week towards Jadon Sancho’s wages at Borussia Dortmund
Talks between the two clubs are progressing over a loan deal that will see Sancho end his United misery by rejoining Dortmund on loan until the end of the season
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The winger’s refusal to apologise looks likely to spell the end of a hugely disappointing spell at Old Trafford, which began with a £73million move from Dortmund in the summer of 2021.
Although United will be paying Sancho around £2.5m to play elsewhere, the club will save up to £5m on his salary between now and the end of June as they continue to drive down the wage bill to help meet Financial Fair Play requirements.
Eintracht Frankfurt are also covering the majority of Donny van de Beek’s wages following his move to Germany and have paid United a loan fee.
United will get Anthony Martial’s £250,000-a-week salary off the books by the summer after deciding against giving the striker or his French compatriot Raphael Varane a 12-month contract extension. The club are still open to keeping Varane on a new deal if he will agree to take a cut on his £340,000-a-week wages.
FFP will also limit what United can spend this month, and it’s believed there are currently no negotiations taking place over potential new signings.
The winger’s refusal to apologise to Erik ten Hag (pictured) looks likely to end his disappointing spell at Old Trafford
Fans hit by Wigan shut-out
Dozens of United fans missed the opening half an hour of the FA Cup tie at Wigan on Monday night because of a fault with the turnstiles.
The League One club opted for a fully-automated entry system, which caused chaos for some of the 7,500 visiting supporters.
Fans whose tickets failed to scan were refused access and instead sent to the ticket office, where they were met with long queues and a lack of organisation.
Stewards at the turnstiles said they had been told not to intervene and could not let supporters through, even if they had a valid ticket.
One told Confidential there is usually someone on hand to help but Wigan decided to change the system, raising questions over why they chose to do so for what is likely to be the best-attended match at the DW Stadium this season.
Manchester United beat Wigan but dozens of fans missed the opening 30 minutes of the game
Skinner row mars Malta trip
A warm-weather training camp in Malta didn’t quite provide United women’s team boss Marc Skinner with the relaxing environment he may have been hoping for.
A 1-0 defeat by Liverpool before Christmas saw fans call for Skinner’s head, and a group of supporters who travelled to the Mediterranean did the same when they watched the club’s friendly with PSV Eindhoven on Friday.
But there was controversy when some fans claimed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that a member of the club’s security team had asked them to stop singing ‘Skinner out’.
A letter of complaint was sent to United’s official supporters club for the women’s team and shared on social media. Fans claimed the member of staff said their chants were ‘upsetting players’.
It is understood the club are happy with the way the member of staff approached the situation and that they acted appropriately and proportionately. It is also understood the club are happy with the job Skinner has done since taking over from Casey Stoney in July 2021.
Visit Malta is United’s official destination partner and one of their largest overseas supporters’ clubs. Players took part in an open training session on Sunday where some of the local fans were invited to meet the squad.
A warm-weather training camp in Malta didn’t quite provide United women’s team boss Marc Skinner with the relaxing environment he may have been hoping for
PSV lead Pellistri race
More departures are expected before the end of the January transfer window, but Erik ten Hag wants to be sure of the players returning from injury before sanctioning any loan moves besides Jadon Sancho and Donny van de Beek.
United had a young bench for Monday’s FA Cup third round win at Wigan, which saw Facundo Pellistri, Hannibal Mejbri, Omari Forson and Willy Kambwala make late substitute appearances.
Pellistri is being lined up for a loan move to PSV Eindhoven despite rival interest from Flamengo and Villarreal, as reported in Mail Sport at the weekend. Mejbri is a target for Sevilla and Everton after dropping out of Tunisia’s squad for the Africa Cup of Nations to decide on his next move, and Dan Gore could also go out on loan to an EFL club.
Amad Diallo is likely to remain part of Ten Hag’s first-team plans after impressing the manager since his return from a knee injury.
Facundo Pellistri (left) is being lined up for a loan move to Dutch side PSV Eindhoven
Fernandez fear for Spaniards
There are growing concerns at Granada that United defender Alvaro Fernandez will be recalled from his loan spell at the Spanish club.
While Granada remained tight-lipped when approached by Confidential, sources in Spain have indicated there are worries that the left-back could be brought back to Old Trafford this month.
It is understood United are still weighing up their options as to how to manage the 20-year-old, who is out of contract in the summer.
There are fears at Granada that Man United could look to recall Alvaro Fernandez
Onana set for Cameroon bench
The news that United were in discussions to keep Andre Onana for Sunday’s clash with Tottenham before he travelled to the Africa Cup of Nations, revealed in last week’s Confidential, raised the prospect of the Cameroon goalkeeper playing twice in the space of 24 hours.
However, it’s unlikely Onana will start against Guinea on Monday, with the United keeper set to be on the bench for the Group C opener in Yamoussoukro as back-up for his distant cousin Fabrice Ondoa, of French club Nimes.
Cameroon play a final warm-up game against Zambia on Tuesday in Jeddah where the temperature in Saudi Arabia is touching 30 degrees – a far cry from the freezing temperatures in Wigan where Onana played for United on Monday night.
Andre Onana is likely to be on the bench for Cameroon’s Africa Cup of Nations opener
Martinez’s comeback spur
Ten Hag said after the win over Wigan that Christian Eriksen, Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire all have a chance of returning to action against Spurs. Confidential understands that Lisandro Martinez could yet make a surprise comeback as well.
The Argentine has not played since the Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in mid-September after needing a second operation on the broken metatarsal in his right foot that cut short his first season at United.
Martinez and Casemiro rejoined full training last week but Ten Hag said before the trip to Wigan that it might be weeks before the pair are fit to play again. However, Martinez is said to be chomping at the bit and is targeting the Spurs clash at Old Trafford on Sunday as a possible date for his return.
Tyrell Malacia is another long-term absentee who is close to playing again following knee surgery, but Mason Mount may be the last one back after taking longer than expected to recover from a calf injury.
Lisandro Martinez could make a shock return in Man United’s clash against Tottenham
The return of Martinez (second left) will give Ten Hag’s side a boost for online casino siteleri the second-half of the campaign
The masked winger
United caused fierce debate on social media by going viral with a guessing game for fans.
One very cold player emerged for training with a snood over his head and fans were tasked with guessing who it is.
The simple post has had more than 2.3million views in what is comfortably United’s biggest social media win of the year so far. So, can you guess who it is?
Manchester United left fans guessing who this player is who had their face covered in a picture
SAS challenge for Utd
United’s stars have been on the ropes for much of this season but now they have been offered the chance to be put through the ringer in a different sort of way.
SAS ‘Who Dares Wins’ host Ant Middleton has offered to try and best casino online cure the ills of Erik ten Hag’s under-performing side with a special boot-camp for extreme team building and bonding.
Middleton posted: ‘@ManUtd Let’s do this! For extreme team building and bonding please contact the Ant Middleton world of extremes!’
SAS ‘Who Dares Wins’ host Ant Middleton has offered to try and cure the ills of Erik ten Hag’s under-performing side with a special boot-camp for extreme team building and bonding
@ManUtd Let’s do this! For extreme team building and bonding please contact the Ant Middleton world of extremes! For more information email enquires@antmiddleton.com pic.twitter.com/rBwJyNRMnu
— Ant Middleton (@antmiddleton) January 7, 2024
Gabe’s boxing clever
United youngster Gabriele Bancheri is one to watch in the coming years. The 17-year-old Wales starlet, who signed from Cardiff City for a six-figure fee last year, is winning rave reviews behind the scenes and he is not resting on his laurels as he bids to make the tricky step all the way through to the first team.
Instead of cruising through into the New Year, the Welsh youngster teamed up to train with two-time super-featherweight boxing world champion Joe Cordina.
The pair have become good friends and were putting each other through gruelling sand dune endurance drills at Merthyr Mawr in South Wales.
Bancheri took his rigorous fitness regime into the Mercedes Benz Junior Cup earlier this week and scored as United’s U19s finished fifth.
Buchan back on course
Legendary United captain Martin Buchan is due to have a cataract operation on Saturday that he hopes will allow him to play golf into his 76th year.
Buchan, who will always be remembered for leading United in the 1977 FA Cup Final which stopped Liverpool from winning the Treble, turns 75 in March but feared eye problems would stop him from continuing to play his beloved golf.
However, cataract surgery on his left eye has already taken place and now he’s about to have the right one done, joking: ‘If the op had been set for Friday the 13th I would have said no, but Saturday the 13th is okay!’
Buchan, who still lives in the north-west, was visiting family in his native Aberdeen when he heard of the sad news that his football idol and fellow centre-half Franz Beckenbauer had passed away.
‘It was one of the highlights of my career to be on the same pitch as him when Scotland played West Germany in a friendly before the 1974 World Cup,’ recalls Buchan.
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