Dortmund: Man United-linked Sancho "guaranteed" to stay
Long said to be a Manchester United target, Jadon Sancho is certain to be a Borussia Dortmund player next season, Hans-Joachim Watzke says.
Jadon Sancho is guaranteed to stay at Borussia Dortmund for next season, according to CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke.
England winger Sancho has been heavily linked with Manchester United after a standout 2018-19 in the Bundesliga, in which he registered 12 goals and 14 assists in 34 appearances.
"Jadon is not on the market", declares Dortmund chief
Dortmund have always maintained they do not intend to sell the 19-year-old, though, and Watzke has made it clear Sancho is not on the market.
"It can be assumed that Jadon will not play more than 10 years at BVB," he said to Bild. "But we have clear agreements about the present. Jadon is not on the market and he plays next season at Borussia Dortmund, guaranteed."
Dortmund, who missed out on the league title to Bayern Munich by two points, have wasted little time in strengthening their squad.
Deals for Julian Brandt, Thorgan Hazard and Nico Schulz have all been confirmed in the past week, with the majority of the outlay funded by Christian Pulisic's move to Chelsea.
"If you look at the transfer fees, you see that we were not wasteful: we got around 64 million euros for Christian Pulisic and invested about 10 million euros net in the three new signings," said Watzke.
"We turned one into three. My big compliment goes to our sporting director Michael Zorc."
Next up among Dortmund's priorities is to extend the contracts of head coach Lucien Favre and midfielder Mario Götze, with Watzke saying: "I feel they both feel very well. We will deal with these two topics in the next few weeks. We want to extend with both.
"With the runner-up spot, he [Favre] achieved more than we expected. He has finally given the team a clear style of play again. Lucien is the right person for Dortmund. In the second and third year, it will become clear whether we can collect titles together."
Watzke "would be first to congratulate" Bayern on Sané deal
Champions Bayern have also made significant moves in the market, spending a reported 118 million euros on deals for Lucas Hernández, Benjamin Pavard and 19-year-old Jann-Fiete Arp.
They are also interested in Manchester City's Leroy Sané, something Watzke says he would be happy to see.
"I think it would be very good if Bayern bring Leroy Sané back as a German national player, because that would increase the appeal of the league. I would be the first to congratulate them," he added.