Berlin (AFP) – Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has categorically ruled out selling England starlet Jadon Sancho ahead of next season.
Sancho, 19, has been linked with a number of Europe’s top clubs after an explosive second season in Dortmund, but in an interview with Bild newspaper on Sunday, Dortmund boss Watzke said they would not let the English winger leave.
“It is safe to assume that Jadon will not play for Dortmund for the next ten years,” said Watzke.
“But in terms of the present day, we have very clear agreements. Jadon is not on the market and he is guaranteed to be a Dortmund player next season.”
Dortmund have repeatedly ruled out selling Sancho in recent months, but speculation resurfaced this week after the club signed two similar attacking players in Thorgan Hazard and Julian Brandt.
The 19-year-old joined Dortmund from Manchester City for 7.8 million euros ($8.8m) in 2017, but his estimated value has skyrocketed in the past year.
Sancho earned his first England call-up in October, and established himself as a regular starter as Dortmund challenged for the Bundesliga title this season.
The team eventually finished two points behind champions Bayern Munich, but CEO Watzke insisted that Dortmund will continue to challenge for the title in future.
“We want to be champions, but Bayern are like Mount Everest, an 8000 metre challenge. You can try to tackle it, and we will do that,” he told Bild.
“German football has a problem abroad because people see it as having a football monoculture. We broke that this season, and we feel we owe it to German football to set our sights on the title.”
Watzke also admitted, however, that neither Dortmund nor Bayern could hope to keep up with the financial might of the Premier League.
“England takes in 2.1 billion euros ($2.35bn) more than us in TV rights money every year,” he said.
“As long as it stays like that, we can only have occasional success. No German team will be able to remain at the top of the European game anymore.”
