Sancho remains in exile and he&aposs eating on his own at Carrington. The January transfer window can&apost come soon enough for him and it&aposs best for all parties involved for an outgoing transfer to be arranged.
The winger is one of the highest earners at United and a loan move away would have to see the club subside a portion of his wages just to get him off the books, with a view to a permanent divorce.
The situation is a mess and it&aposs a genuine shame to see such a promising talent, someone who had the world at his feet when he signed from Borussia Dortmund, fail to perform and end his United time in this manner. Juventus and Dortmund have discussed a winter loan deal for Sancho and although the player comes attached with risk, a temporary move with United paying some of his wages makes him a gamble worth taking.
What remains of the Sancho who built a reputation as one of the finest young talents in football remains to be seen, but a six-month loan for a cash-strapped club is a no-brainer if he can return to half the player he was.
The elephant in the room is such a deal would require compromise. United would rather receive a fee for Sancho and sell him permanently than subsidise his loan wages but they might have no choice.
Unsurprisingly, getting Sancho away from Carrington is the priority and it&aposs better to have him leave the club on loan in the January window than keeping an upset, high-earner around the training ground.
There are essentially no clubs in Europe that would currently be willing to pay a permanent fee and that could meet Sancho&aposs wage demands, however, there are a handful of Saudi Pro League sides who could.
The Saudi Pro League consists of 18 clubs and Al Ahli, Al Ittihad, Al Hilal and Al Nassr are 75 per cent owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the worlds top 10 sovereign wealth funds.
Those four clubs have attracted some of the world&aposs biggest stars, from Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Neymar and N&aposGolo Kante, and Saudi Arabia&aposs pursuit of sporting excellence shows no signs of relenting.
Saudi Arabia has been accused of sportswashing and Newcastle&aposs takeover has faced immense scrutiny, but the moral concerns have not stopped players from heading to the immensely lucrative league.
Some Premier League clubs, like Liverpool and Chelsea, have also greatly benefited from the Saudi injection in cash, having received large transfer fees for ageing players they would have struggled to offload.
Everyone in football seems to be benefiting from Saudi transfer fees and United should try to take advantage while they can, with players like Sancho, Raphael Varane and Casemiro all receiving interest from the Middle East.
Sancho&aposs time is over and it&aposs possible this could be the last season for both Varane and Casemiro at United, as the pair have shown signs of decline and it&aposs been suggested they might need to be moved on.
Varane has been demoted and some critics would say Jonny Evans is starting ahead of him, despite Ten Hag explaining that he can only use the Frenchman on the right side of central defence for build-up purposes.
Evans and Harry Maguire, who now plays on the right side of centre-back, have been the preferred pairing in recent weeks and a player of Varane&aposs stature and pedigree simply cannot be happy about that.
The 30-year-old was awful from the bench in the defeat against F.C. Copenhagen in the Champions League, though. He was responsible for the equalising third goal and it was an uncharacteristic mistake.
United signed Varane in a deal worth 40m in 2021 and recouping most of that from a Saudi club would be a success, although a higher percentage loss might have to be accepted for any future sale of Casemiro.
Casemiro was signed in a deal worth 70m and he&aposs another player on unthinkable wages. The Brazilian was world-class as recently as last season and it&aposs hoped he can arrest his decline when he returns from injury.
