Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho is not ill and has skipped the club’s DFL Super Cup clash with Bayern Munich in order to force through a move to Manchester United, according to reports.
The 20-year-old was absent from Dortmund’s 20-man squad that flew to Munich on Tuesday with the club claiming ‘respiratory’ problems were to blame for his absence.
However, Norwegian outlet Dagbladet claim Sancho was left out of the squad because the former Manchester City winger is attempting to speed up a transfer to Old Trafford.
Sancho has already agreed personal terms with United over a five-year deal at the club but Dortmund have maintained the winger will not leave after the Red Devils failed to meet their £108million asking price by the Bundesliga club’s deadline of August 10th.
However, the fact that negotiations continue suggest a deal could still be done and after staying out of talks, Sancho appears to be taking matters into his own hands.
The 20-year-old deployed a similar tactic when he was angling to leave Manchester City for Dortmund in 2017 and Pep Guardiola eventually agreed to his departure as the pair’s relationship broke down.
United are believed to have tabled a bid of around £91m for Sancho earlier this week, though there remains confusion as to whether the bid was sent directly to Dortmund or through an intermediary.
Either way, the fee doesn’t come close to Dortmund’s asking price for the winger and it was rejected.
Nevertheless, Dagbladat claim Solskjaer has remained in regular contact with Sancho and the pair spoke again this week.
United are running out of time to complete the deal, particularly given the size of the transfer.
Alex Telles, the Porto left-back, is expected to join before the transfer window closes but there remains distance between Porto’s £18m asking price and United’s £12m valuation.
