Manchester United are prepared to sacrifice getting any kind of transfer fee for Jadon Sancho as club chiefs lean towards letting him leave for nothing.
It is a damning indictment of what has happened to Sancho's career at Old Trafford since they splashed £73million to sign him from German side Borussia Dortmund. The 25-year-old has become an outcast at United and is now on his third loan spell away from the club.
After a stint back in the Bundesliga with Dortmund and last season's ill-fated spell at Chelsea, he's now on loan at Aston Villa. And the Villans are hopeful that they can get the ex-Manchester City youngster back to something like his best, before signing him permanently at the end of the season.
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At that point Sancho is hopeful of becoming a free agent. His current £200k-a-week deal at United runs out in June, but the Red Devils have the option to activate a 12-month extension to his current contract.
That would subsequently allow United to demand a small fee, with the club aware that they simply won't see big money for the winger. But such a move would risk complicating a possible transfer for Sancho elsewhere.
And it's understood United are so keen to see the back of Sancho, that co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is prepared to let him walk out on the club for nothing - bringing to an end one of the most disastrous signings in English football history.
That's good news for Villa, who will have first refusal from Sancho and his camp, if he can make a success of his spell in the West Midlands.
Sancho joined United in 2021 in a £73m deal that was widely seen as something of a coup at the time, such had been the impression he had made in Germany. But he never made a significant impact and was loaned back to Dortmund following a public bust-up with ex-United boss Erik ten Hag.
He made 31 appearances for Chelsea last term, and helped them win the UEFA Conference League. But Chelsea were forced to pay United a £5m penalty fee, after rejecting the option to make the deal permanent for £25m.
Sancho returned to United in June, but became one of five stars to find themselves banned from joining the squad for pre-season training by manager Ruben Amorim. He was told to stay away and resolve his future, which he did by engineering a move to Villa.
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