Manchester United have confirmed Jadon Sancho will leave the club as a free agent following the expiration of his contract at the end of this month.

Sancho, a £75m signing from Borussia Dortmund in 2021, has spent the majority of the last three seasons out on loan.

After being frozen out of United’s squad following a disagreement with former head coach Erik ten Hag in September 2023, Sancho spent the second half of 2023-24 on loan at his former club Dortmund, making 21 appearances and scoring three goals.

He then spent 2024-25 with Chelsea, providing 13 goal involvements (five goals, eight assists) in 41 matches and helping the Blues win the Conference League trophy. 

Chelsea did not exercise an option to make his stay permanent, though, and he spent 2025-26 at Aston Villa, making 39 appearances as they finished fourth in the Premier League and won the Europa League.

However, Villa boss Unai Emery was non-committal when asked about the prospect of a permanent deal for Sancho, who was never considered likely to get a new deal at United.

His departure, along with that of Tyrell Malacia, was confirmed when the Red Devils released their retained list on Wednesday, after they had already announced Casemiro’s exit several months in advance.

Sancho has been linked with a permanent return to Dortmund, who finished a distant second in the Bundesliga in 2025-26 behind Bayern Munich.

By coming off the bench in Villa’s Europa League final victory over Freiburg, Sancho became the first player to ever appear in three European finals, in different competitions, in consecutive seasons.

He was part of the Dortmund team that lost to Real Madrid in the 2023-24 Champions League showpiece, prior to his triumphs with Chelsea and Villa.

In addition, his only goal for Villa came in a Europa League group-stage meeting with Fenerbahce in January. 

He has scored in each of the last eight seasons of major UEFA competitions since 2018-19, with Harry Kane and Phil Foden the only other Englishmen to achieve that feat.

Sancho is also one of two English players to score for four different teams in major European competitions (Dortmund, United, Chelsea, Villa), after Peter Crouch did so for Liverpool, Portsmouth, Tottenham and Stoke City.