Real Madrid: The 5 best U21 transfer targets for Los Blancos

Dortmund FW Jadon Sancho

Erling Haaland’s teammate at Dortmund Jadon Sancho isn’t as high on Real Madrid’s list now, and if he ends up signing somehwere in 2021 as is expected, then Manchester United still look like the favorites despite dropping the ball badly in the 2020 transfer window.

Sancho hasn’t been as brilliant to start the 2020-2021 season, but you can’t forget how good he was in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. Out of all the players under the age of 21 whom Real Madrid could sign, Sancho has the most proven track record.

He is such an exciting player. Few wide forwards can hope to dribble with the skill, change-of-direction, and purpose that Sancho has. He became even more efficient in 2019-2020 after a promising 2018-2019, scoring 17 goals with 16 assists. Sancho was one of the absolute best players in Europe that year and had an even better season than Kylian Mbappe, which is just outstanding.

Sancho has his issues. Sometimes, he messes up counterattacks with poor passes or holds the ball too long, but he’s been getting better and better at this. Again, he’s just 20. And he can also fall into lulls form-wise, which you don’t see happening to Mbappe and Haaland.

But after those two, Sancho is probably the best young attacking player in world football. The England international is averaging 3.2 dribbles completed per game, according to WhoScored.com, sacrificing his goal-scoring to become more of a workhorse for Dortmund to help Haaland shine even more.

I’m not sure Sancho is the best fit for Real Madrid after they signed Eden Hazard, and they also have another great ball-carrier in Vinicius Junior. But purely on the strength of his talent, he should be on Real’s radar.