How Sancho's dream Man Utd move became a nightmare
Premier League rules prevent loan players appearing against their parent club, so Sancho is not allowed to be part of Unai Emery's squad for the trip to the north-west. Yet, in another sense, it just extends a sequence neither Sancho nor United can look back on with any fondness. Not playing at Old Trafford has been a common occurrence for a player who joined United on a five-year contract in 2021.
"A dream come true" was how Sancho described his move from Borussia Dortmund at the time. The last time Sancho played at Old Trafford was on 26 August 2023, when he came on as a second-half substitute in a comeback victory against Nottingham Forest . In total, he has made 30 Premier League appearances at Old Trafford.
He completed the full 90 minutes on only 10 occasions. Aside from one seven-minute substitute appearance in the 2024 Community Shield, Sancho will spend the last two and a half years of his time at United playing elsewhere - Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and now Villa. No wonder minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe was aghast to learn how much of Sancho's fee United still had to pay, as he told BBC Sport in March 2025: "Sancho now plays for Chelsea and we pay half his wages.
We're paying £17m to buy him in the summer. " Looking back, there are four key moments in Sancho's United story. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made Sancho a key transfer target in the summer of 2020.
Dortmund set a deadline of 10 August to agree a deal. United felt the German giants were posturing and would let Sancho leave regardless. They were wrong.