Weird transfer story explained: Winger turned down huge Chelsea offer two months ago

The winger arrived on loan from Manchester United last summer without an obvious space in the squad, but quickly established himself ahead of the likes of Joao Felix. The ban for Mykhailo Mudryk meant even more game time for him, and he became at worst third choice winger behind Noni Madueke and Pedro Neto.

By the end of the season it had been a solid campaign, and all the top sources were predicting that Chelsea would pay the £25m to sign the winger from Man U rather than the £5m to not sign him.

Then, rather out of the blue, everything flipped, and Sancho was suddenly off back to Old Trafford. What happened?

Jacobs claims Sancho rejected Chelsea’s contract terms

Well according to Ben Jacobs, who we really trust on these things, the transfer broke down over wages. The winger was on huge money at Manchester United, and Chelsea wanted him to sign for the £180,000-£200,000 per week he was getting from them already while the rest of his wages were subsidised by United.

It’s mind boggling that he said no to that – he’s out of the picture entirely at Man U and has no hope of getting paid his full wages anywhere apart from (perhaps) Saudi Arabia. Chelsea were offering him a chance to rebuild his career, he already had a year under his belt with Enzo Maresca and was back in London.

It’s such a crazy decision that we’re inclined to think there’s more to it than meets the eye.