3 reasons why Jadon Sancho should stay at Borussia Dortmund

19-year old English forward Jadon Sancho has enjoyed a fantastic season at Borussia Dortmund, scoring 12 goals in the Bundesliga and making an impressive 14 assists too. Sancho – who moved to Dortmund from Manchester City’s academy in the summer of 2017 – showed flashes of his potential during 2017/18, but few expected him to become this good during just his second senior season.

Unsurprisingly, due to his meteoric rise, Sancho has now come onto the radar of the Premier League’s biggest clubs – most notably Manchester United. The Red Devils have been rumoured to be planning a summer move for Sancho for weeks now – but should the youngster, who now has 4 caps for the England senior team, really make the move?

Personally I think he’d be better off to stay in Germany with Dortmund for now – and here are 4 reasons why.

#1 He doesn’t want to become the next Renato Sanches

Renato Sanches struggled after making a big move to Bayern Munich at a similar age to Sancho

Flash back to the summer of 2016 for a moment – back to when Sancho was just a highly-regarded 16-year old at Manchester City – and the name on everyone’s lips was Portuguese wonderkid Renato Sanches. He’d broken into the Benfica first team in 2015/16 with some fantastic performances, and after starring for Portugal at Euro 2016, it seemed like the world was at his feet.

It was no surprise then when he made a big-money move to Bayern Munich for a fee of €35m. But rather than kicking on and becoming a true global superstar, Sanches floundered under the bright lights of Bayern and made just 4 starts in the Bundesliga, failing to register a single goal or assist. A disastrous loan move to Swansea followed in 2016/17, and while Sanches has recovered somewhat this season, the bloom is well and truly off his rose for now.

So why is this relevant to Sancho? Well, like Sanches, he’s had just one good season in the senior game to date, and while he has looked fantastic, at 19, he’s still clearly not the finished article. Like Sanches, Sancho has performed well in the Champions League too, but just like the Portuguese star, those performances came for a relatively unfancied side rather than one of Europe’s giants.

Sure, a move to the Premier League would take Sancho home – unlike Sanches who moved to a foreign country with all the issues that brings for a young player – but there’s nothing to say that the change in scenery and a change in manager wouldn’t harm what he’s been able to achieve so far. Basically, Sanches is the living example that sometimes, it’s better to wait for a big move – something Sancho would do well to remember.

#2 There’s less spotlight on him from the British press at Dortmund

Despite being a full international, Sancho has largely escaped the pressure of the British press by playing in Germany

There’s pressure on modern footballers from the press regardless of the country that they ply their trade in, but the British press feel quite unique in the way that they love nothing more than building players up only to look to knock them down later, particularly when it comes to criticism of their personal lives. Look at the treatment of Raheem Sterling, for example, who seemed to be under fire from the press for basically everything he did last summer.

Right now – due to the fact that he’s living and playing in Germany and thus isn’t under the spotlight like players like Sterling – the fans and press alike don’t know all that much about what Jadon Sancho is like off the pitch. We’ve had some reports that he’s a relatively humble kid who lives with his father in Dortmund, but as a young player invariably earning a big wage, if he were to come back to England, how long would it be before the press would pounce on him for being “blingy” or “flashy” as they infamously did with Sterling?

The growth of social media means that players’ personal lives are often on show more than they’ve ever been before, and Sancho is no exception in that aspect, as he’s a regular user of Instagram. But playing for Dortmund, he still seems to be a little more distant, more out-of-the-way – at least where the press are concerned. And right now, at just 19, it’s probably better for him that things stay that way – meaning staying in Dortmund would be the smarter choice for him.

#3 United aren’t a safe bet yet

Sancho is working under a proven boss in Lucien Favre - something that may not be the case at Manchester United

It feels like the main club linked with a move for Sancho right now is Manchester United; the top four of the Premier League haven’t been mentioned when it comes to the England youngster. And if that is the case, then would a move to Old Trafford really make sense right now? I’m not so sure.

Firstly, by moving to United, Sancho would be giving up Champions League football for the time being at least; the Red Devils won’t be in Europe’s biggest competition in 2019/20, and in all honesty thanks to the strength of their rivals, there’s no guarantee they’ll be back there any time soon. And more to the point, the situation at Old Trafford isn’t particularly stable by any means.

The United board seem content with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager – they awarded him the job on a full-time basis earlier in 2019 after a successful spell as caretaker – but the Norwegian has struggled to get the best out of his players in recent weeks, and has come under heavy criticism from some fans and pundits.

And while Solskjaer has suggested that he wants to develop United’s younger talent – including Sancho’s former England youth colleagues Mason Greenwood and Angel Gomes – at Dortmund Sancho is already working under Lucien Favre, a manager truly renowned for developing youth; the likes of Gokhan Inler, Marco Reus and Granit Xhaka all credit the Swiss boss with their early breakthroughs.

A move to a club the size of United might sound glamorous, but surely right now, a young player like Sancho would be better to stay somewhere with guaranteed Champions League football under a more proven manager who, based on this season, can clearly get the best out of him.