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Jadon Sancho’s entourage have pushed back against West Ham transfer claims and rumours of unprofessional behaviour at Chelsea.
Manchester United sent Sancho out on loan to Chelsea, where he spent the 2024/25 season. As part of the deal, Chelsea had an obligation to permanently sign the player at the end of the campaign for £25m.
However, it later emerged that Chelsea could opt out of the arrangement by paying United a £5m penalty fee. The Blues exercised that option despite Sancho scoring in their Europa Conference League final triumph over La Liga outfit Real Betis.
It was stated that Chelsea could not reach an agreement with Chelsea over fresh terms, as the forward was not willing to take a pay cut to fit within the club’s wage structure.
Sancho is not believed to have a future at United, with neither club nor player interested in such an outcome. The England international has since been linked to Juventus, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Brentford, West Ham and former team Borussia Dortmund.
A report covered by The Peoples Person relayed that West Ham were offered the chance to sign Sancho at an “affordable” fee but they were not interested.
There were later claims of a swap deal on the table – Sancho to West Ham, Mohammed Kudus to United – but that idea never got off the ground.
Claret & Hugh have now given more information on this and why the transfer didn’t materialise. Claret & Hugh claim a West Ham spokesman told them about Sancho, “Rightly or wrongly, we’ve heard he can be difficult – we don’t want that kind of thing.”
It is understood that West Ham manager Graham Potter was not keen on bringing Sancho in or allowing Kudus to leave. Potter requested due diligence be carried out to understand why Chelsea chose not to pursue a permanent deal for Sancho and why United were so desperate to part ways with him.
According to Claret & Hugh, it was discovered that Sancho had faced issues with timekeeping during his stint at Chelsea.
Due to this, West Ham made it clear they did not want the 25-year-old.
However, a representative of Sancho has refuted any suggestions that the player lacked professionalism.
The representative told Claret & Hugh, “Jadon Sancho is an excellent professional. Do you think Dortmund would continually try to re-sign him if he wasn’t?”
“As for timekeeping, he was late for training at Cobham ONCE, and so were about eight of the players.”
“There were roadworks at Wisley, and the M25 was shut. Everyone had trouble getting in that day.”
Sancho has one year left on his lucrative United contract, which is worth up to £300,000 a week.
Feature image Richard Heathcote via Getty Images
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