FA to investigate reports of banned payment for Jadon Sancho by Manchester City

The Football Association will investigate allegations that Manchester City made a banned payment of £200,000 to Jadon Sancho’s agent when the English winger was only 14 years old.

The allegations and documentations were published by German sports newspaper Der Spiegel on February 22.

Young players are not allowed to be represented by an agent until the year they turn 16 meaning that the payment should not have been accepted by the agent.

A statement from the club read “The attempt to damage the club’s reputation is organised and clear. We will not be providing any comment on out of context materials purported to have been hacked or stolen from the City Football Group and Manchester City personnel and associated people.”

Sancho, 18,  joined Manchester City as a 14-year-old, with the Premier League champions paying £66,000 to the youngster’s agent Emaka Obasi for the services of the London-born starlet; however, players cannot be represented by agents until they turn 16-years-old.

Sancho, who now plays for Dortmund did not make a single first-team appearance for City and was shipped off to the German giants for £8 million in the summer of 2017.

He has been one of the key players in the Dortmund side, who are currently the top of the Bundesliga and have a three point lead on Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich. The club have described Sancho as “one of the most exciting players in Europe” with him being on form this season as he has shown by bagging 8 goals and 10 assists in 23 Bundesliga appearances.