How does Man City ban escape affect Jadon Sancho?

Sarah Winterburn
during the FA Youth Cup Final, second leg between Chelsea and Mancherster City at Stamford Bridge on April 26, 2017 in London, England.

How does Man City ban escape affect Jadon Sancho? It’s the one question which has not been asked…yet.

 

Blow job
It’s one way to sell a story about Manchester City…

‘MANCHESTER UNITED and Chelsea have been handed a bitter blow after Man City’s two-year Champions League ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).’

…but perhaps somebody needs to tell The Sun that it’s Leicester who are now pretty much f***ed.

Mind you, nobody sneaks Leicester into a headline in a search for clickety-clickety clicks.

 

It’s all about you…
Elsewhere…

‘Man City Champions League ban overturned – what it means for Wolves and Man United’ – Birmingham Mail.

‘Manchester United learn if fifth place will secure Champions League qualification with Man City verdict’ – Manchester Evening News.

‘How Manchester City Champions League decision will affect Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham’ – football.london

‘Liverpool news and transfers LIVE – Thiago Alcantara twist, Jurgen Klopp exit, Man City CAS verdict’ – Liverpool Echo.

And there we were thinking it was a Manchester City story…

 

Let’s twist again
That ‘Thiago Alcantara twist’, by the way, is this gossip.

Which is one hell of a ‘twist’ that directly affects Liverpool despite the Echo repeatedly saying that Liverpool hold no interest in Thiago.

 

LIVE and let die
Mediawatch continues to be infuriated by the concept of LIVE things actually being pretty bloody OLD, so imagine our outrage at this headline on the Mirror homepage:

‘Transfer news LIVE: Man Utd eye Dembele as Arsenal face Ceballos competition’

And who do they cite as a source for this Dembele talk? The Athletic.

And when did The Athletic run this story? July the sodding 8th.

LIVE, my arse.

 

How much is that winger in the window?
Back on July 10 (Friday), Bleacher Report‘s Dean Jones wrote a speculative piece in which he he asked:

‘Jadon Sancho and Kai Havertz: How Close Are We to This Summer’s Biggest Deals?’

Jones suggests – after a conversation with a source ‘who is not directly involved with the deal but works as an intermediary in the game’ – that a compromise fee will be reached for Sancho between Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund. It is very much a guess and Jones does not claim to have inside knowledge.

‘Sancho, with his goals and assists, has an added premium—so perhaps we are looking at around £85 million, which converts to approximately €95 million, as the sort of figure that might make this deal possible.’

Note the ‘perhaps’ as we see these headlines – three days later – on Monday morning…

‘UNITED LIVE 10.15am Man Utd transfer news LIVE: Sancho could join for £85m, Skriniar £58m bid, Mings shock interest, Chilwell LATEST’ – The Sun.

‘Man Utd’s five-point plan to secure £85m Jadon Sancho transfer this summer’ – Daily Star.

‘Transfer news LIVE: Dean Henderson to Chelsea, £85m Sancho to Manchester United, Partey and Sarr to Arsenal’ – Evening Standard.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

 

Trendsetting
Over at LancsLive, they have worked out that you garner more traffic from Google if you don’t just write about Lancashire (live or otherwise), so this was their headline on Sunday:

‘Man United to agree to pay £130m for Jadon Sancho, Sean Dyche on Burnley transfer strategy – reports’

Have Manchester United really agreed to pay £13om for Sancho? Seems unlikely – after publicly making it clear that they would pay only £50m – that they would see Borussia Dortmund’s £115m valuation and then reach a £130m compromise.

It also seems unlikely that this will really have any ‘knock on effect on any negotiations for Burnley’s Dwight McNeil’ but we applaud any attempt at relevance.

But we do not applaud a) carelessly mixing up Euros and sterling or b) cynically claiming an asking price is the same as an agreement. No, Dortmund wanting €130million for Sancho is not the same as United agreeing to pay £130m. On any level.

By Monday, they have worked out that there are two different currencies here (though crucially, that realisation has not led to that first headline being changed), and now this is the headline:

‘Man United agree £116m fee for Jadon Sancho – but Chelsea could swoop, Burnley boss on crucial defender – reports’

Better. But it’s still not an agreed fee. And it’s still got f*** all to do with Burnley.

 

F365 Shithouse headline of the day
‘Daniel James among Man Utd duo to make way for Sancho’

Can you be ‘among’ a duo? And we strongly suspect that the story was nicked from TEAMtalk, who were very late on this from the Express.

Hang your head in shame, Will Ford.

 

Old news is good news
When there’s no decent Manchester United news around…

‘Sir Alex Ferguson lost £400 bet to Cristiano Ronaldo during Man Utd days’ – Daily Star.

Fourteen years ago.

Just wait until they announce the winners of the 1966 World Cup.

 

Recommended reading of the day
Jonathan Wilson on the north London derby

Dominic Fifield on the north London derby

Daniel Storey on Jack Charlton