Manchester United release Sancho after £73m signing yields just 12 goals in four years

Jadon Sancho has departed Manchester United after the club formally confirmed his exit in their retained list submission to the Premier League on Wednesday, drawing a quiet close to one of the most expensive disappointments in the club’s recent history.

United paid £73 million to sign Sancho from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2021, yet the winger managed only 12 goals in 83 appearances — a return of roughly £6 million per goal, a figure that does not account for his reported £250,000-per-week wages. The club’s farewell statement ran to just 44 words, noting his role in the 2023 Carabao Cup win and wishing him well.

The gap between expectation and reality was stark from the outset. Then-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had spoken glowingly of Sancho’s ability to beat defenders one-on-one, create chances, and excite supporters. “He takes people on one-against-one, he creates chances, he works hard and he loves football,” Solskjaer said at the time of the signing. “And there is some untapped talent there, I am sure.”

That version of Sancho never consistently materialised in the Premier League. He managed only three top-flight goals in his first season, with Solskjaer already sacked and Michael Carrick serving as caretaker by the time Sancho scored his first league goal for the club. Carrick did not consider retaining him this summer.

Interim manager Ralf Rangnick, who had scouted Sancho during his time as sporting director of the Red Bull group, pointed to the psychological and physical demands of English football as contributing factors. “The whole competition is more physical and the level of expectation is higher,” Rangnick said. “I think it’s also got to do with a lot of different things up here in his head.”

Sancho had also arrived carrying an ear infection, which Solskjaer cited as a factor in his slow start, though the struggles persisted long after his health recovered. United had tracked the Watford-born winger for four years before completing the transfer, making the outcome all the more difficult for the club to absorb.

For the Ineos regime now overseeing United’s football operations, the Sancho saga represents precisely the kind of costly, long-term misjudgement they are determined not to repeat as they reshape the squad.