City and United are buying in Dortmund: Haaland becoming the Citizen, Sancho the Devil

Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke is a busy man. While his caretaker manager Edin Terzić is fighting to ensure that The Millionaires are playing Champions League football next season, BVB top man has already made two signings for June: Marco Rose will be the new coach, and Sebastian Kehl will replace the outgoing sports director Michael Zorc (58). But Watzke is prepared to take some losses along the way too. His two best players might move away from Westfalenstadion at the end of this season.

Manchester United will reportedly be able to sign Jadon Sancho for 86 million euros in the next transfer window, according to Daily Star. That is a significant drop in price, since the previous one stood at 124 million, and was rejected by the BVB last season. But the financial uncertainty caused by a coronavirus, and a potential loss of Champions League spot have forced Borussia to change their stand.

"In the midst of a pandemic, I no longer rule anything out. Above all, there is the financial balance: that we have a strong team on the field and are economically stable at the same time. Asking banks for credit lines at the drop of a hat just to avoid selling a player will not be our way" said Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke to Handelsblatt.

Haaland is not going anywhere, despite what Raiola says... At least not yet

Jadon Sancho broke Bundesliga's record on Saturday, as he became the youngest player to record 50 assists in the competition. His good performances have been noticed by non-other than Real Madrid, and they have already contacted Borussia in January to acquire the player.

And while Sancho’s price, whenever he might end up in June, will be lowered due to the economic situation, his team-mate Erling Haaland won’t give any discount to his future employees and neither will Dortmund. There are plenty of reasons for that, and the first one is that the young Norwegian will probably become the best striker in Europe for the next decade, and maybe longer, considering how young is he. Second of all, Haaland has a clause in his contract which allows him to move if 76 million euros are paid to Dortmund in 2022. So, if somebody want’s to buy him before that, the sky is the limit for the negotiations. And the third reason is the most important one – his agent is Mino Raiola, the „Godfather“ with a serious lust for money, and he won’t have Haaland move for cheap.

Enter Manchester City and Chelsea, two clubs who emerged last week as potential buyers. Real Madrid still remains very interested, but they can’t afford both Haaland and Sancho, and the Premier League is tempting for any player. And Man City have the money to spend. They are covered in all areas, except the forward position. Gabriel Jesus hasn’t been the real number 9 as Pep Guardiola hoped, and Sergio Aguero has been caught up in injuries and age. So, fresh blood is needed. And even the bad relations between Guardiola and Raiola won’t be a problem, because, money talks. The super-agent famously fell out with Guardiola over his treatment of superstar client Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Barcelona. The animosity between Guardiola and Raiola is so great that in 2018, the agent gave an extraordinary interview in which he called the Man City manager a 'zero' of a person. But if the Citizens are willing to pay the big bucks, it will all be „water under the bridge“.

„There have been dealings with Mino Raiola in the past and if he represents a player we are interested in, it won't be an issue. An example of how these things work happened a few years ago when there was an exchange of views between Pep and Yaya Toure's agent Dimitri Seluk. That didn't prevent Yaya from signing a new contract to stay with the club. Personal issues don't dictate what is best for the club“ a senior Etihad source told The Mirror.  

However, if this transfer doesn’t go through, for whatever reason, Pep has another player on his mind – Harry Kane.