Euro 2020 - Gareth Southgate praises Jadon Sancho for not letting Manchester United transfer move distract him
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Published 03/07/2021 at 15:52 GMT
Gareth Southgate says Jadon Sancho is training better than ever after news he would be joining Manchester United. The England forward has been the subject of intense transfer speculation and will join United after a long-running saga. Southgate was asked if Sancho appeared distracted. "No, in fact I think Jadon over the last seven days has trained the best level in the time with us," he said.
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Gareth Southgate insists Jadon Sancho hasn’t been distracted by his transfer move to Manchester United and is training better than ever for England.
Sancho is in line to start against Ukraine in the quarter-finals on Saturday, his first of Euro 2020 and United fans are desperate to see their new signing in action.
The forward will complete his move to United once he agrees personal terms and passes a medical, but Southgate insists the spotlight on Sancho hasn’t affected him in a bad way.
"No, in fact I think Jadon over the last seven days has trained the best level in the time with us," Southgate told ITV when asked if Sancho had been distracted by the speculation.
You accept there are lots of ongoing transfer situations and nobody is coming in for talks, nobody is going out for talks.
"But we can't stop people's phones ringing and we can't stop business happening outside of that and you just have to trust the players and they're all very focused.
"I haven't really had a long discussion with him about it at this moment, because that story's been going on for 12 months. When everything's confirmed I'm sure I'll have a chat with him.
"But there's so much speculation about all of our players, I don't pick up every little individual piece but I'm checking in with the players every single day to see how they are and the biggest thing is he's been very focused in his training and that's been good."
United and Borussia Dortmund announced they had come to an agreement over the transfer of Sancho, with the Red Devils set to pay around £73 million for the England international.
The 21-year-old will sign a five-year deal worth a reported £350,000-a-week. Sancho leaves Dortmund after kickstarting his career in the Bundesliga.
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Sancho forced his way out of Manchester City when he was a youngster to join Dortmund and burst onto the scene in Germany to become one of the league’s best players.
United have been chasing Sancho for several years and the deal will represent the end to a long-running transfer saga.
England are favourites to progress past Ukraine with one semi-final already confirmed. Spain will take on Italy after their clashes with Switzerland and Belgium respectively.
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