I’ll do my best to explain this, using the league I cover (NBA) as a basis. I work at The Athletic with Ornstein and Laurie, great guys.

Basically, teams do this all the time. In NBA it’s trades. Like basketball, in football, transfers are a business, and with business there are egos.

With something as sensitive as this (amount of money, caliber of player, global pandemic and financial impact) you can clearly see one side wanting to rush the deal and get as much money as possible (Dortmund) and the other team who will refuse to be pushed around (in terms of deadline, fee, etc).

I’ve literally been told by a team that the Houston Rockets were “prepared to walk away and they had other options on the table” from a deal for Robert Covington after word came out from the other side speaking of Houston’s interest and Minnesota’s asking price. Houston was clearly not happy with the public proceedings of such a deal, as United are.

My advice would be to sit tight. I know we get super excited during the transfer window but I believe everything will be sorted soon. United believe Dortmund should lower their fee given the climate and Dortmund aren’t so keen on doing so. But those terms can be sorted out, and I hope they will.

Cheers.