Rumour Mongering: Reds on Alert as Dortmund Drop Sancho Hint

Unless you’ve been living in some sort of social media insulated shelter — which, good on you, you’re smarter than us — you will have heard rumblings about Jadon Sancho and Liverpool. Those tremors were the product of a series of photos that depicted the 19-year old alongside Liverpool youngsters Rhian Brewster and trent Alexander-Arnold, and further exacerbated when Borussia Dortmund official account posted the photos on Twitter with the caption “The future is now.” Liverpool Twitter, predictably, lost all of their shit.

Fans with memories stretching longer than a week were even able to connect the event with Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc’s statement from back in September, when Jürgen Klopp’s former boss stated “You don’t have to be a prophet to know that Jadon won’t play here for another five years,” further fueling speculation regarding the former Manchester City prospect’s long-term future.

All in all, it’s utterly perfect fodder for the international break, giving fans something to talk about that isn’t terrible football from players who’ve spent three days training together, while awaiting the return of the record-setting Reds.

With all that said, however, it isn’t entirely outside the realm of possibility that Jürgen Klopp and his transfer bandits are considering splashing the cash on young Sancho sometime in the near future. First of all, the Reds manager has admitted to attempting to sign the youngster back in 2017, but being rebuffed by City, who at the time were unwilling to sell to a Premier League rival.

Secondly, this Liverpool front line, flawlessly assembled though it is, is aging, and will be in need of fresh blood at some point over the coming 18-20 months, meaning that fans are likely going to have to deal with the club letting go of their favourite star attacker — ideally for an obscene amount of money — before they’ve aged out entirely.

And finally, Jadon Sancho is really, really good. In the past two and a half seasons at the Signal Iduna Park, the 19-year old has averaged a goal or assist every 94.6 minutes, totaling 16 goals and 23 assists, all without being a regular set piece or penalty taker. He sports elite conversion rates for both his shots and key passes, sitting at 26.7% and 24.2% respectively, and while skeptics might argue that his 61% over performance relative to his expected goals and assists is unsustainable in the long term, even a more modest 20% over performance would yield around 27 goals and assists over a full league season.

Possessing extreme pace, close control and dribbling ability — the 19-year old averaged over four successful dribbled per 90 minutes last year — along with a knack for keeping his head up and making the right call even at high speeds, Sancho would be a perfect fit for the aggressive transition game of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, and seem a natural successor to Sadio Mané’s throne.

We’re not saying that Sancho is coming to Liverpool. He’d be prohibitively expensive, and when he hits the market, the Reds would have to contend with the Bayern Munichs, Barcelonas and Manchester Citys of the world. As reigning Champions League title holders — and by next summer, perhaps Premier League champions — though, that is the sort of company the Merseysiders will find themselves in when pursuing players, and the sort of competition they will have to occasionally beat out in order to get their target.

All we’re saying is we’ll be keeping a pin in this one for future reference.