Manchester United will refuse to meet Borussia Dortmund's £110million asking price for Jadon Sancho as they prepare to make a move for the England winger.
The two clubs are some way apart on valuation and sources dismissed reports in Germany on Monday that United have had an opening bid of £89m rejected.
It's understood that no formal offer has been made yet, although Sancho remains United's No 1 target in this transfer window.
The club have more money to spend after qualifying for next season's Champions League, having drawn up two budgets based on the outcome of their bid for a top-four place.
But United are unwilling to pay more than double what it has cost Chelsea to sign Timo Werner from Red Bull Leipzig and Bayern Munich to take Leroy Sane back to the Bundesliga from Manchester City.
Sancho, who joined Dortmund from City for £8m in 2017, has less than two years left on his contract at Dortmund and is keen to leave for United.
The 20-year-old is due back in training on Thursday and Dortmund want a deal done by August 10 when they leave for pre-season camp in Switzerland, even though the window will stay open until October 5.
United will adopt a similar stance over Aston Villa's £80m demand for their captain Jack Grealish after the Midlands club avoided relegation on Sunday.
United want Grealish but feel that he is less of a priority than Sancho, particularly now that it looks as though Paul Pogba will remain at Old Trafford.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also wants a new centre-back but will first have to offload some defenders with Marcos Rojo set to leave and a question mark hanging over the futures of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones.
Solskjaer will make a decision on loan moves for a number of his players this week, not least goalkeeper Dean Henderson who has spent the last two seasons at Sheffield United.
lukzlat910
463
110 million??? We will not spend that sort of money on ONE player, we should go for someone cheaper like Leon Bailey or Coman, then we can bring in Grealish for squad depth and a quality defender, we won't buy Sancho for anything more than 75 million
BarryLama
343
Sancho and Sanchez the only difference is O,E and Z letters,so plz United don’t rush for him like the way you rushed For Sanchez or else he may end up been another Current Chapter of Sanchez
shadymovic
260
I wonder why Utd only likes buying expensive players. The price tag will be a heavy burden for the player and that will put so much pressure on him, just like Pogba and Maguire. Look at how Chelsea are snapping up very quality players with smaller amounts, why can’t Utd buy players like this?
sriramjr
221
SON: Who is ED WOODWARD DAD: son,he is a guy who paid 80 million euros for Maguire and is not willing to pay 120 million for Sancho😂😂