Garnacho has already eased Sancho blow

IF there is one transfer to best sum up everything wrong with United in the past ten years, it is arguably their move for Jadon Sancho.

- RICHARD FAY

The Reds spent an entire summer chasing him as their number-one target and then missed out. The next summer, they went for him again, parading a £73m fee as somewhat of a bargain given how much they had been quoted a year earlier.

He was given bumper wages and promised a key role under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Weeks later, they tore up those transfer plans to sign Cristiano Ronaldo and shoehorn him into their attack. A few months later, the manager was sacked and Sancho's key ally was gone.

Sancho, billed as the long-term solution on the right wing, was actually far better on the left.

He struggled to progress as expected and the writing was already on the wall when the club allowed Erik ten Hag to spend £86m on Antony a year later. Sancho's falling out with the Dutchman last summer was merely the final nail in the coffin.

It has been a failure in recruitment and long-term planning as much as it has been a failure of the player himself. The 23-year-old has yet to light up the Premier League and looks set to return to Borussia Dortmund, where he made a name for himself and convinced United to spend so much on him initially.