Manchester United are keen to put more emphasis on youth in each of the next few transfer windows as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer tries to turn fortunes around at Old Trafford – and Jason Sancho is among his top targets.
Sancho has been heavily inked with a move back to the Premier League after impressing in the Bundesliga after walking away from Manchester City with the hope of securing more playing time.
And Jorg Heinrich, Dortmund’s assistant manager, has now put a time frame on when the 19-year-old might return to his native country, shortly after he revealed that the winger is certain to leave the club one day.
He said: ”Jadon can become one of the best players in Europe, or even the world.
“He should know Dortmund is an excellent place for young players to play consistently and to develop on a very, very high level.
“It won’t be easy to keep him at Dortmund. We hope he plays one or two seasons longer.
“But we all know very, very big clubs with a lot of money want to have him in their team.”
Sancho managed to displace Christian Pulisic from his position on the right-wing last season as he formed partnerships with both Marco Reus and Paco Alcacer.
The former Watford youth prospect is set to make his ninth appearance for England tonight as they take on Czech Republic in Prague, with Sancho having impressed Gareth Southgate during the last camp in September.
“He’s one that, because of where he plays his club football, he still goes under the radar a little bit in terms of the quality of his performances and the level that he’s playing at every week,” Southgate said.
“So, I said when I named the squad, he’s not a player we’re looking to hold back. He’s a real competition.
“We talked really positively about the front three the other day – but he’s one that’s in that sort of bracket.”
He later added: ”He’s confident in his own ability, you can see that in the way that he plays. But he’s very calm.
“He’s been through that development programme. He’s knows the environment we have.
“But also, the player has to take a huge amount of credit in those situations. You can get ideas given to you but then you’ve got to take them on board.
“And I like the fact that he’s another one that works extremely hard without the ball. You see him play for Dortmund, he’s very diligent in his work.”