Dortmund chief makes admission over Jadon Sancho & Ian Maatsen transfers

Borussia Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl has admitted the club were not in a position to insert options to buy in loan deals to sign Jadon Sancho and Ian Maatsen this month.

Sancho completed a sensational return to BVB from Manchester United after being banished from the first-team squad by Erik ten Hag, while Maatsen made the move from Chelsea later in January.

Both players have signed for Dortmund on dry loans without optional or obligatory purchase clauses, with Kehl telling Sky Sports Germany it was tough to negotiate one with United for Sancho given they sold him there for £73m in 2021.

"Unfortunately for both players, neither option was really realistic. If you know what we got for Jadon Sancho two and a half years ago, then you know also that it might now be very, very difficult," Kehl said.

"We naturally advocated for an option with him - and also with Ian - but the negotiating position was not such that we could implement it and so we will accept it for now."

While Chelsea did not sanction the addition of a buy option or obligation, they did renew Maatsen's contract and insert a release clause worth between €35m and €40m into this deal.

Regarding whether Dortmund could trigger that clause, Kehl added: "It's good that we have the boy here now. We can watch him intensively and get to know him on and off the pitch and of course we will then deal intensively with the situation.

"But that's not something that concerns me at the moment, because we still have a little time for it. But of course we'll see what we can do in the summer and, above all, what's economically feasible. Unfortunately, that's always a big topic."

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