Manchester United are ready to battle Paris St-Germain for Jadon Sancho in a tug-of-war that could see the Borussia Dortmund winger become the first £100 million English footballer.
Sancho has emerged as the top summer forward target for both United and PSG, who face each other in the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday night.
Any move for the teenage England winger would raise fresh doubts over the future of Alexis Sanchez, who has been a spectacular flop since his move to Old Trafford from Arsenal 14 months ago.
Sanchez calamitous United career hit a new low on Monday when he was ruled out for up to two months with medial ligament damage to his right knee as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer injury crisis deepened ahead of the PSG game, in which United must try to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit.
But, despite Sanchez injury leading some to wonder if the Chile forward might have played his last game for United, his exorbitant £500,000-a-week wages will make him difficult for the club to offload unless a move away is subsidised or there are huge compromises on both sides.
Sancho, 18, has established himself as one of the most exciting young players in Europe following his £8m move to Dortmund from United bitter local rivals Manchester City in August 2017.
He has nine goals and 14 assists to his name this season and Dortmund, having extended Sancho contract until 2022 in October last year in recognition of his meteoric rise, are determined to keep the player.
But United and PSG are preparing to test Dortmund resolve and the Bundesliga leaders know interest from both clubs will drive the price higher and guarantee an extraordinary profit on their original investment should they decide to cash in.
United record purchase is the £89m signing of France midfielder Paul Pogba from Juventus in 2016 but there is a recognition that it could take £100m or more to prise Sancho away from Dortmund given the enormous inflation in the transfer market. Kyle Walker who joined Manchester City from Tottenham Hotspur for £54m in 2017 is currently the most expensive English player.
The prospect of United signing Sancho would be a potential embarrassment to City, who were unable to persuade the teenager to stay, after he grew frustrated at the lack of first-team opportunities, only to see him flourish in Germany and establish himself as a full England international.
United have put the accent firmly back on attacking football since Solskjaer appointment as caretaker manager and believe Sancho would help form part of an exciting Anglo-French attack with Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial and Pogba.
United have lacked a natural right-sided forward for years and, while Solskjaer has managed to successfully compensate for that so far, Sancho could prove a valuable addition in the short, medium and long-term and bring more pace, urgency, creativity, goal threat and X-factor to the forward line.
Any potential move to Old Trafford would certainly excite England manager Gareth Southgate, for whom the idea of three of his most talented attackers Rashford, Lingard and Sancho playing together at club level would doubtless benefit the country on the international stage.
As well as a versatile forward, United want to sign a pedigree centre-half, with Napoli Kalidou Koulibaly among the targets, and, ideally, another midfielder this summer.
Sanchez failure has reminded United of the perils of seeking short-term fixes. PSG were once interested in Sanchez but they are now pursuing a model that targets the best young players who can develop and, with uncertainty persisting over the future of Neymar, who has been courted by Real Madrid, the French champions have identified Sancho as a leading target.
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