Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Chelsea will now make a decision about whether to permanently keep Jadon Sancho, who has spent this season on loan from Manchester United.
After falling out with Erik ten Hag in 2023, Sancho was briefly reintegrated in Manchester, but wound up joining Chelsea last August for the duration of 2024–25.
That deal came with a £25 million ($33.7 million) obligation to buy, contractually locked in last month once Chelsea could no longer finish lower than 14th in the Premier League table. But also included was a £5 million ($6.7 million) penalty fee to cancel the obligation.
A third option for Chelsea is to accept the obligation clause and look to sell for profit if they don’t wish to keep Sancho for themselves. Borussia Dortmund’s late surge into Champions League qualification could still make that viable.
Ahead of Wednesday’s Conference League final, Maresca said that Chelsea would “start to talk about the future” within 48 hours of the game. He reiterated that after Chelsea’s victory.
“We are going to sit with the club and decide what happens for next year,” said the coach, who stressed that finishing fourth in the Premier League—securing qualification for the Champions League—and winning the Conference League was “also because of Jadon”.
Sancho didn’t start the final, but with Chelsea losing early he emerged from the bench in the second half alongside Levi Colwill, and earlier Reece James, to help turn the contest around. The Blues eventually scored four times past Real Betis without reply, Sancho firing in the killer third.
Addressing form from Sancho that has been inconsistent during the course of the campaign, Maresca added: “It is normal in a season to go a little bit up and down, it is part of the game.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Enzo Maresca Addresses Jadon Sancho’s Chelsea Future.
