Real Madrid was very close to signing Jadon Sancho in the summer of 2017, when he was only 17 years old and was a City player. The operation was personally carried out by José Ángel Sánchez, general manager of the club, because he knew the strategic importance of signing the one who was the most promising young man in Europe. At that time the white club had already begun to shape its new policy of signing the best young talents in the world.
The conversations with the soccer player's father were very advanced. He was even scheduled to travel to see the facilities of Valdebebas. However, the agreement was settled on one point: Sancho demanded to be part of the first team to sign. Madrid, meanwhile, preferred that it start at Castilla. The idea was that the first team began to tread from the first months, although there was no contract that required it. Both Zidane (first team coach at the time) and Juni Calafat (head of international soccer) They agreed that it was better for their adaptation to start at the branch.
The current Borussia Dortmund player has now exploded and is one of the best footballers in Europe, but at the time he was a youth player who aimed to crack. In Madrid they understood that their adaptation to a new club, to another League and to a different culture at only 17 years old there were too many unknowns to secure a first-team spot by contract from the beginning.
The English asked for a formula similar to the one that has been used later with Vinicius and Rodrygo: be part of the first team and only go down to the subsidiary on a specific occasion as part of the process of adaptation to the club. In Madrid they had very recently the case of Odegaard, with whom the steps were also advanced and did not finish carburing. The white club did not accept the demands of Sancho, who remained adamant in his request to go directly to the first team.
It was at this point that the balance settled on the side of Borussia Dortmund, who presented him with honors: He went straight to the first team and with the '7' that Dembelé had vacated. He signed on August 31, 2017 (for a figure close to 10 million) and on October 21 of that year, against Eintracht, he debuted with the first team. That course, still in youthful age, already disputed 12 parties in the Bundesliga. Sancho, who at that time wanted almost all the greats in Europe, prioritized the sports project that Dortmund put on the table.
City had to give explanations for letting him go. Pep Guardiola himself did it: “We had an agreement for its renewal. We even shook hands! We offered him an incredible contract in economic terms. Then he, or his agent, decided not to sign. I told him that he would not come to the United States tour if he did not sign. When he returned he did not appear for three weeks. He should go, but he didn't. He wanted to play in the first team immediately … “. City, like Madrid, made him a great financial offer but without guaranteeing him a place in the first team. And Sancho chose Dortmund …