Al Ettifaq fail with late move to sign Jadon Sancho
- Saudi Pro League held talks with Manchester United over Jadon Sancho
- United were willing to accept loan deal but wanted an obligatory purchase clause
- Al Ettifaq had to accept defeat ahead of Saudi transfer deadline on Thursday
Al Ettifaq tried and failed to seal a deal for Manchester United winger Jadon Sancho on Thursday at the Saudi Pro League's transfer deadline, sources have confirmed to 90min.
90min confirmed early on Thursday that the Pro League had held talks with intermediaries and that both United and Sancho were open to a potential deal.
An initial loan was discussed, but the terms of a deal in which United were only willing to loan with a significant obligation worth in excess of £50m were beyond Al Ettifaq's capabilities.
The Pro League were keen to bring Sancho in as another star name, but completing a deal proved just too much to do in such a short space of time.
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Sources have told 90min that if the move was being pursued by one of the league's PIF-backed clubs - Al Hilal, Al Ittihad, Al Ahli or Al Nassr - then the situation may have been different, but the time frame was always against a move.
As 90min revealed on Monday, there is still interest in Sancho from Turkey, but the package United are likely asking for makes a move very unlikely.
Sancho's future remains up-in-the-air at Old Trafford after he responded angrily on social media to comments made by manager Erik ten Hag after he was left out of the squad to face Arsenal at the weekend.
Ten Hag revealed that Sancho was left out after performing poorly in training and the England winger reacted with a message saying that he felt he was a 'scapegoat'. United were furious to the point where they were willing to part company with the 23-year-old this week.
It now remains to be seen how Sancho will be incorporated back into the first-team fold at United, and when that might be.
LISTEN NOW TO 90MIN'S TALKING TRANSFERS PODCAST
On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Graeme Bailey to discuss Al Ittihad's attempts to sign Mohamed Salah, Jadon Sancho's Man Utd future, the players that could still leave the Premier League and more! If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!