3 Reasons Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho will not join Liverpool in the offseason

In December, rumours began making the rounds that Borussia Dortmund’s 19-year-old winger Jadon Sancho was on Liverpool’s transfer radar. Some English media sources even stated he was Liverpool’s No. 1 transfer target and that the club would spend over £100 million in January to sign him.

The rumours gained steam until it was like a wildfire of reports all claiming Liverpool would spend £100m-plus to buy Sancho and pay him £200,000-a-week in wages.

The problem with the reports of Sancho signing for Liverpool is his addition goes against the club’s philosophy of signing players (coincidentally, so does signing Kylian Mbappe). Any Liverpool supporter worth his or her salt knows that Sancho isn’t heading to Anfield in the offseason unless something major happens at Liverpool (win the treble, sell Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, or Mohamed Salah).

But for anyone that needs more convincing, here are 3 reasons Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho will not join Liverpool in the offseason.

The Price

It has been claimed Sancho will move away from Borussia Dortmund in the summer for around £120m. Now, keep in mind the player Liverpool signed in January (Takumi Minamino for £7.25m) and consider the difference in prices.

The Reds are not about to splash nine digits worth of month on a player when the likes of Firmino, Salah, and Mane are still at the club. Moreover, Michael Edwards and his team focus on buying key players at reasonable prices. If Liverpool desperately need an expensive player, in the cases of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker, then they go out and get him.

Without a desperate need for Sancho, Liverpool will not splash that much money. Although Sancho is good, he is unproven in the Premier League. Yes, that may sound silly, but he hasn’t had to play the rigours of a Premier League season. Van Dijk, Salah, and Mane all three did before they joined Liverpool. The Bundesliga plays fewer matches and has a longer winter break.

Add in, Sancho would command a high salary, rumoured to be £200,000-a-week, which would put him at the top of Liverpool’s wage structure. In one transfer, Liverpool would wreck their into pay structure and many senior players wouldn’t be happy. Remember when Alexis Sanchez went to Manchester United?

Better alternative

While all eyes have been on Sancho, there is a far better player competing in the Bundesliga that has better goalscoring stats Liverpool should sign. Timo Werner has scored 20 goals in 21 Bundesliga games and is available for a fraction of Sancho’s price.

Werner signed a new contract last summer but it has a ridiculously low release clause.  The release clause is “set between £50m and £55m”. However, to activate the release clause, Liverpool must work out a deal by April, which is completely doable. Yes, Sancho creates goals (13 assists in the Bundesliga) but adding a central striker to the Liverpool attack in the form of Werner would make Liverpool far more deadly in the final third.

It was reported when Werner re-signed with RB Leipzig last summer that the release clause was actually lower than the £50m to £55m fee that is now reported.

Expectations

Sancho has been at the Signal Iduna Park for over two and a half seasons, but it wasn’t until last term that we started getting really noticed. It took time for Sancho to bed-in to the team and the Bundesliga.

Now, he is expected to be one of the best players in the world, or at least he will be if Liverpool pay £120m for his signature. The Reds are in a no-win situation if they splash that much cash on Sancho. He will be expected to hit the ground running and if he doesn’t, he will be labelled a flop. No matter how well he plays, he will need to be the best player on the pitch every matchday. Not convinced?

Look at last season’s must-buy teen, Joao Felix. The forward had a decent season at Benfica although he was unproven against better sides outside of Portugal. That didn’t stop Atletico Madrid from spending £113m for Felix’s services.

Felix has only played 17 matches in La Liga but is verging on flop status. He has scored just twice for Diego Simeone’s team who are one of the lowest scoring sides in La Liga. Sancho is not a sure thing and a bad start could doom him at Anfield.

Edwards and the transfer committee will know this despite the stats that back up Sancho’s play with Borussia Dortmund.