David Moyes admits the idea of Everton making the Champions League this soon in their rebuild actually makes him “shake a wee bit.”

You look at the club now, and it's hard to believe where they were just 14 months ago. When Moyes returned, Everton looked beaten down from years of fighting to stay up. Suddenly, with only seven games left, they’re sitting eighth. That spot could mean Europa Conference League football, but after their win against Chelsea before the break, they’re now just three points off fourth. It’s wild to even talk about the Champions League, but it’s right there in reach.

Reporters put the question to him how does it feel to be this close? With Europe’s spots possibly extending down to fifth (or maybe even further, depending on how other English clubs do), Moyes wasn’t hiding his nerves: “It’s probably the best shot we’ve had in a long time. But when I hear ‘Champions League’? Makes me shake a wee bit, honestly. I’ve been lucky to manage in Europe’s other competitions lately, and if we do make it, I’m sure we’d be able to hold our own at certain stages. Still, the Champions League is just on another level.”

Everton’s next match at Brentford looks huge for their European dreams. Brentford beat them earlier in the season, and right now, both teams are level, separated only by goal difference.

Moyes is clearly enjoying this chapter. “Listen, Europe’s Europe. If someone had said at the start, ‘You’re going to get European football,’ we’d have snapped their hand off. It could be the tiddlywinks European cup, and we’d be up for it. Evertonians want the club back in those conversations. We’re getting attention for the new stadium, we’ve got a couple of England internationals getting noticed more, it’s a good time. If we do sneak into the Champions League, it’d be an unbelievable achievement. But honestly, no matter which competition we make, it’s still a big step forward for us.”

Borussia Dortmund have made their interest in bringing Jadon Sancho back crystal clear. With his Manchester United contract finishing up this June, Dortmund are looking into the possibility of a third spell for the 26-year-old winger. Still, there’s a catch: they’ll only move forward if Sancho is willing to take a big pay cut from what he’s earning now.

Dortmund are really eyeing this reunion. After a tough run for Sancho in the Premier League, the club is weighing a move to bring him back to the Signal Iduna Park. He’s currently on loan at Aston Villa, and his time at United looks to be wrapping up five years after that big £73 million switch to Old Trafford. He hasn’t managed to settle in England, never really hitting top form, yet the people at Dortmund still believe that coming home could spark the kind of performances that once made him one of Europe’s most exciting wingers.

As for the next steps, Dortmund’s staff are working through their list of summer targets, and Sancho’s name keeps cropping up. But money’s making things tricky; he’s on a hefty £15 million a year right now, which is a stretch for Dortmund. Talking to SPORT BILD, managing director Lars Ricken kept things pretty open: "We’re currently looking at a lot of players and analysing them closely. We check whether they can make us better. We’re doing that with Jadon as well."

Sancho’s move to Manchester United was supposed to be a dream come true, but it hasn’t played out that way. After a rocky couple of seasons at United, he showed flashes of his old self on loan at Dortmund, but his temporary move to Chelsea fizzled. Now at Villa, he’s not finding it easy either, just one goal and three assists in 31 games, with less than half as a starter.

As his contract runs down, everything hinges on whether Sancho is ready to give up a chunk of his wages to come back to Germany. Dortmund think he has what it takes to revive his career, and for Sancho, this could be the lifeline he needs.