Jadon Sancho has revealed what he and Enzo Maresca spoke about when the head coach was talking to the winger about moving to Chelsea.
The 24-year-old winger completed a move to Stamford Bridge during the early hours of Saturday morning. The Blues were working all day to try and get Sancho but needed to submit a deal sheet to the Premier League in order to complete the move after the 11pm transfer deadline.
Eventually the club got it done, following the departure of Raheem Sterling to Arsenal. Sancho has signed for Chelsea on an initial season-long loan deal with an obligation, understood to be around £25million, to buy from Manchester United next summer – though the winger was not signed in time to make his debut against Crystal Palace at the weekend.
Sancho – whose path did not cross with Maresca during their respective days at Manchester City’s academy – has been talking about the head coach’s role in persuading him to move to SW6. “I think his it’s his style of play,” Chelsea’s latest signing replied when asked about what he likes about Maresca.
“His wingers, when they get on the ball, he loves his wingers to play one-v-one and play direct. They play a lot of one-twos with the 10s and the striker combination plays. So it is very attracting, especially with how I play.”
Sancho joins Chelsea, who already have the likes of Noni Madueke, Cole Palmer, Mykhailo Mudryk, Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku that can play in similar positions. So, what does Maresca expect of Sancho?
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“He doesn’t really need to say,” the England international said. “They are signing me for a reason: to contribute to the team. And, hopefully I can do that.”
Sancho continued: “Hopefully [fans can expect] goals and assists. [I’m a] skilful player. Hopefully to bring some excitement to the Bridge, so hopefully it will turn out well.”
The winger will train with a selection of his teammates over the next couple of weeks; those that have not been selected by their countries for international duty. One of them will be Tosin Adarabioyo, who he spent some time with at Man City.
However, his other former City colleague Palmer will be with England for their matches against Ireland and Finland in the UEFA Nations League. “There’s a few [familiar faces in the squad],” Sancho said.
“Obviously Tosin, I played with him at City. Cole Palmer, he was younger than me when I was at City. Mainly the English lads.”
Sancho is in contention to make his Chelsea debut when the Blues travel down to the south coast to take on AFC Bournemouth after the international break. Maresca and his side will be looking for their second successive away victory in the Premier League after hitting six past Wolves last month.
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