London: Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho was pictured joking with a supporter who implored him to sign for Manchester United as the winger prepared for England’s final Euro 2020 qualifier in Kosovo on Sunday.
The 19-year-old has been heavily linked in the British media with a move to the Premier League after a troubled season in Germany.
Sancho started in England’s 7-0 rout of Montenegro last Thursday although he may miss out on Sunday’s game if Raheem Sterling, who was dropped for disciplinary reasons at Wembley, returns to Gareth Southgate’s side.
London-born Sancho has had his own off-field problems this season and was last month axed and heavily fined by his club after returning late from an England training session.
Dortmund manager Lucien Favre then substituted Sancho after 36 minutes of last week’s 4-0 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, later confirming that the winger had not been injured.
The setbacks have stoked the speculation around Sancho, who agreed to a fan’s request for a selfie after England training and then smiled without comment as the supporter urged him to sign for United.
Any such move would be particularly controversial as Sancho was a member of Manchester City’s academy for two years before his move to Germany in 2017.
United are facing another season of struggle in the Premier League and are in need of striking reinforcements after having sold Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan, who have also taken Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez on loan.
Other clubs would almost certainly be interested should Dortmund decide to cash in Sancho, who might command a fee of up to 140 million euros (USD 154.28 million).
