By Dailysports on August 1, 2020

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants Manchester United to accelerate their pursuit of Borussia Dortmund forward Jadon Sancho in order to avoid a repeat of last summer’s protracted move for Harry Maguire, which resulted in the club paying a world record £80 million for the Leicester defender.

Sources have told ESPN that United are in pole position to sign Sancho this summer, but the lack of serious rivals for the 20-year-old’s signature has led to the Old Trafford hierarchy believing that they can drive down Dortmund’s £80m valuation of the former Manchester City youngster.

Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, is prepared to offer £50m for Sancho due to the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the transfer market, but sources have said that Solskjaer and his coaching staff want the club to make a more realistic opening offer to ensure that a deal gets done quickly.

United spent almost two months last summer attempting to negotiate a knockdown fee for Maguire, having initially valued the England centre-half at £40m.

But with Leicester holding firm on their valuation, United eventually caved in to the selling club's demands and, according to sources, left players and staff at Old Trafford bemused by the time that had been wasted, which could have instead enabled Maguire to arrive earlier at the club and have greater involvement in preseason preparations.

The delay in finalising a deal for Maguire resulted in the player only signing for United in the week leading up to the opening game of the season against Chelsea.

A similar pattern followed with the January signing of Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon. Fernandes completed a deal worth an initial £47m just 24 hours before the Jan. 31 transfer deadline, despite prioritising a move for the midfielder prior to the window opening at the beginning of January.

Sources have said that Sancho is Solskjaer’s No. 1 target this summer. While there is confidence within the club that a deal will be done, the short turnaround between the end of this season and the start of the 2020-21 campaign on Sept. 12 has increased the determination on the football side to seal a deal in a similar fashion to Chelsea's swift and decisive moves for Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner. (ESPN)

•PHOTO: Jadon Sancho 

Source Dailysports

Posted August 1, 2020

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