Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United have reportedly been in talks regarding midfielder Manuel Ugarte recently. Although the two clubs’ valuations of the Uruguay international do not yet match, it is has been an opportunity to discuss another player of interest to the French champions: Jadon Sancho. The England international is back with the Red Devils after spending the second half of last season on loan with Borussia Dortmund and it was during that return to Signal Iduna Park that Les Parisiens took a shine to the 24-year-old as he helped the German outfit past PSG in the UEFA Champions League semifinals as part of BVB’s unexpected run to the Wembley Stadium final. With Kylian Mbappe now gone, Paris and Parc des Princes could become a permanent home for Sancho.
This is why PSG might be tempted to move for the Three Lions star.
Attacking versatility
Sancho is primarily a wide player who spends more time on the right than the left. Although he can play both, PSG will logically have him pegged for a right-sided berth which makes a lot of sense given Ousmane Dembele’s gradual transition into a more central creative role. With Mbappe gone, there will be greater flexibility in an attack featuring not only Dembele but also Bradley Barcola, Goncalo Ramos, Randal Kolo Muani, Marco Asensio and occasionally Kang-in Lee. Sancho would ensure that there are at least two players per position across the attack depending on whether it is a straight three-man attack or one creator behind two more advanced central attackers. PSG had been looking at Atletico Madrid-bound Julian Alvarez of Manchester City with one of those roles in mind.
Complementary qualities
Coming in as a right-sider, Sancho does not really pose much of a direct threat to anybody in the starting XI’s attack assuming that Dembele’s move infield becomes permanent. In that case, PSG will be looking at an approximate 4-2-3-1 setup with Ramos at the tip, Barcola on the left, Dembele behind the Portuguese attacker and Sancho on the right. That creates a rotation in midfield between Vitinha, Warren Zaire-Emery and Fabian Ruiz which newcomers Joao Neves and Gabriel Moscardo need to try to break into. Once Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes are both operational, it also creates the opportunity to go with three advanced attackers with one central attacking midfielder which is really just a more attacking version of the 4-2-3-1 with the wide men pushed further forward.
Squad fluency
Should Luis Enrique bet set for the new season with that current attacking assortment, then his options are fairly logical in that he will have more or less depth in each area and competition for starting places without the dominance exercised by Mbappe during the Spaniard’s debut term. In that group there is a blend of wide and central attacking quality with creative elements and a balanced midfield which will be very much to Luis Enrique’s liking with the likes of Joao Neves and Gabriel Moscardo instead of Ugarte.
Ugarte use
An underrated aspect of PSG’s interest in Sancho is also the fact that it keeps the Ligue 1 giants and United in conversation which means that Ugarte is not totally off the table. The Uruguayan needs to be moved on and the Englishman could essentially be part of a swap between the two clubs which sees far less money changing hands than would have been the case if it was just a one-off inquiry about one or the other which was the original source of the issues regarding the South American — PSG’s asking price.
Star appeal
Sancho is also a known name in world soccer with PSG in need of a little star power after Mbappe’s exit for Real Madrid. Although the two are not at all on the same level in terms of superstardom, the England star would add to the curiosity factor around Le Championnat which has added some interesting names already this summer. It also gives Les Parisiens a bit of different appeal and potentially opens the club back up to an English-speaking audience after a fairly inaccessible period for those support bases in terms of player profiles.