Pandemic to delay Sancho move

Jadon Sancho may play another season at Borussia Dortmund as a halt to fixtures puts many clubs in a "perilous" financial situation and makes for a subdued summer transfer market, analysts at Joh Berenberg Gossler & Co. said after hosting an online investor event for the German club.

With no pressing financial concerns, Dortmund may prefer to hold onto the 20-year-old in order to preserve his E100 million euro transfer value, analysts Trion Reid and Anna Patrice wrote in a research report.

The Englishman has been speculated as being a potential target for Manchester United.

Berenberg's prediction is another example of how Covid-19 has upended the world's most-popular sport.

Share prices of the game's top publicly traded teams have plunged since playing seasons were suspended.

Player valuations are also decreasing as contracts run down amid the postponements, CIES Football Observatory warned this week.

Squads

The consultancy said squads across Europe's five main soccer leagues would lose about 28 per cent - or E9.3billion - of their combined transfer value should no games be played before the end of June.

Players at a number of clubs, including Dortmund and Italy's Juventus, have agreed to take temporary pay cuts during the crisis.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has urged English Premier League players to do the same.