Gary Neville has suggested Manchester United give up on their ‘frustrating’ and long-running pursuit of Jadon Sancho and focus their attention on other targets.
The England and Borussia Dortmund winger has long been linked with a move to the Premier League and Manchester United appear to be at the front of the queue for his signature, but a deal is proving very difficult to do.
The Bundesliga side want at least £100m for the 20-year-old and United appear unwilling to meet the asking price, which has seen negotiations stall pretty quickly.
There appears to have been little progress in the possible move, and if anything Sancho looks more likely to stay at Dortmund than he did earlier in the summer, which Neville has found to be frustrating.
He feels that the Red Devils need to cut their losses, and hopes that they will have been considering other targets should they fail in their Sancho hunt.
‘That’s been the frustration with Sancho,’ Neville told PA. ‘The fact that it’s dragged on. Just say to Dortmund “leave him there” and go get another player.
‘It is frustrating but I do think United have been better in these last couple of seasons, more careful and not making mistakes either.
‘If you can’t get a deal done (for Sancho) you have to move on. You certainly have to give hard deadlines on players.’
Neville added that United’s transfer policy in recent years has made them seem desperate, as they spend a long time chasing certain players at the whim of selling clubs rather than taking charge of negotiations.
‘Like everyone else they had three months off because of coronavirus, so I don’t think it should be the case they didn’t have the resource or time to get things done,’ said the former United defender.
‘Chelsea got their business done, [Man] City have got three or four pieces done. I don’t think timing’s the issue. It’s just a thing with United that every time they go for a player in the last four, five, six years it feels they are a little bit desperate.
‘They think they can hang on but they always pay it (the asking fee) in the end.
‘That’s sometimes where I think you can take control, give a hard deadline and say “we’re moving away from this deal’”.
