Bayern Munich could have signed Jadon Sancho from Manchester City in 2017

Jadon Sancho has been in fantastic form for Borussia Dortmund this season, having scored one goal and provided 8 assists from 10 appearances across competitions thus far. His strong performances caught the eye of England manager Gareth Southgate, who called him up to the senior squad for the Three Lions’s two UEFA Nations League matches against Croatia and Spain. Sancho was in the squad for both matches and came on as a sub against Croatia match for approximately twelve minutes.

Per a report by SportBild, Bayern Munich could have signed Sancho from Manchester City in 2017, and Pep Guardiola even recommended said move because he thought it would be beneficial for all parties. Unfortunately, at the time, Bayern’s front office felt that Sancho wasn’t worth their time and declined to pursue the (now) 18-year-old. Dortmund wound up signing him for €8m in the 2017 summer transfer window for what now seems like an incredible steal.

Even Dortmund’s sporting director, Michael Zorc admitted that other top clubs were interested in signing Sancho:

We observed Jadon very early on the youth teams. At the time, there was already serious interest from the Premier League, as well as from top clubs in other countries.

Zorc said that he feels Sancho ultimately chose to move to Dortmund because of the club’s proven ability and track record in developing younger players and showing plenty of faith and patience with them:

I think he decided in favor of BVB because, for more than a decade, we have signed the best European talents, trusted them, given them lots of playing time, and made them better.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but this certainly isn’t the first case where we’ve seen Bayern overlook a young talent who winds up blossoming into a big success at another club. By that same token, although it’s easy to point out such missed opportunities, perhaps Bayern should be paying closer attention to players like Sancho.