No drama and no disaster: winger's loan had highs and lows but Maresca needs an upgrade

The best way to respond to Chelsea having to pay a £5m penalty fee because of their failure to meet a £25m obligation to buy Jadon Sancho from Manchester United is with a shrug.

- Jacob Steinberg

There is no tale of excess, no evidence of scattergun thinking from the recruitment team at Stamford Bridge, no stick with which to beat Todd Boehly. In fact, it is not even much of a punishment.

A penalty clause is one way of framing it; another is that it is the equivalent of a standard loan fee and that all Chelsea are doing is making a delayed payment after not being asked for one when the deal to borrow Sancho went through on the final day of last summer's transfer window.

This is no drama; it is merely Chelsea benefiting from predicting how things with Sancho could play out. They saw the upside but knew there were potential drawbacks.

Sancho represented risk. He had struggled at United after joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2021. He had clashed with Erik ten Hag, who was critical of the attacker's output in training. It is no secret that United were eager sellers. They will be far from delighted that Sancho, who has a year left on his lucrative deal, is their problem to solve again.