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Rob Dawson, reporter
“I will continue to fight for this badge whatever happens, but the truth is that he is now fighting to save his career with Manchester United,” Jadon Sancho said in the final line of his shocking statement on social media on Sunday night.
After Erik ten Hag revealed in the immediate aftermath of United’s 3-1 defeat by Arsenal that Sancho was not part of the squad at the Emirates due to poor performances in training, the England striker hit back almost immediately, accusing his manager of lying. He said, “Please don’t believe everything you read.” Statement posted within the hour From Ten Hag’s post-match comments. “I will never allow anyone to say things that are not true. I did very well in training this week.”
Sancho was not finished and continued to suggest that the decision to exclude him was influenced by other things.
He added, “I think there are other reasons for this, which I will not go into.” I’ve been a scapegoat for so long, and it’s not fair.”
This was not a hasty engagement that Sancho immediately regretted, too. His manifesto is still live, and has garnered nearly 60 million views. Sources told ESPN that Ten Hag was made aware of Sancho’s anger during the return flight from London to Manchester on Sunday night. He could have issued a clarification at that point, if he wanted to, but decided instead to stand by his comments. “The director gave a very clear reason why Jadon wasn’t cast,” said one source.
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Ten Hag has been keen – above almost anything else – to add discipline to his squad since arriving at Old Trafford in the summer of 2022, and is expected to take Sancho tough for what he will, according to the sources, view as a challenge to his authority.
Since he took office in June 2022, this has been the Ten Haag or Highway. Alejandro Garnacho was reprimanded for poor timekeeping during the summer tour of Thailand and Australia in 2022 despite suffering from jet lag, while star striker Marcus Rashford was benched for a match against Wolves in December after missing the start of a team meeting due to injury. matter of minutes.
Cristiano Ronaldo was suspended for one match and denied access to the first-team dressing rooms at Carrington after refusing to enter as a late substitute against Tottenham in October; Less than a month later, his contract was terminated by mutual consent after he gave an interview in which he said he had “no respect” for Ten Hag.
Sources have told ESPN the Dutchman and his coaching staff are particularly frustrated with Sancho after they believed they took extraordinary measures to help him last season. Noticing his form and mood deteriorating, Sancho was given an indefinite leave of absence from the club and placed on an individual training program in the Netherlands. Ten Hag has been left short of figures for a busy period of matches after the 2022 World Cup, but insists Sancho’s “physical and mental” condition was more important.
It was a low point in Sancho’s United career, which was disappointing at best. He arrived from Borussia Dortmund for £73m in 2021 as one of the best young players in England – having scored 50 goals and provided 64 assists in 137 appearances for the German club – but hasn’t played for his country in nearly two years. .
There were hopes at United that this summer would mark a turning point. Speaking during the tour in the US, Ten Hag said Sancho was “in very good form”, but a recurring theme during the 23-year-old’s time at the club was a lack of consistency. Ten Hag sets the bar high and, according to sources, has become increasingly frustrated that Sancho’s performance levels can drop dramatically, sometimes from week to week, often depending on whether he starts matches regularly. The same was observed in training.
Off the field, club sources describe Sancho as a complex personality. Sometimes he can be loud and outgoing, but he can also be very reserved. At the adidas launch party in Melbourne 2022, he told the event host to avoid asking him questions and instead focus on Bruno Fernandes, Rashford, Luke Shaw and Scott McTominay.
Some United staff find Sancho rude and withdrawn, while others attribute his behavior to simply being shy. On a pre-season broadcast day – when TV rights holders ask players to kiss the badge of videos played when squads are announced before matches – it was hard to get Sancho to even smile.
Manchester City knows how stubborn Sancho is. During a contract crisis with the club when he was 17 years old, Pep Guardiola decided to omit the youngster from the 2017 pre-season tour of America. Instead, he was asked to attend training sessions at the City Football Academy but failed to turn up on a number of occasions. Sometimes the coaching staff couldn’t reach him to check his whereabouts. By the end of the summer, his relationship with the club was beyond repair, and he was allowed to leave for Dortmund.
Guardiola later said Sancho “didn’t want to accept the challenge” of trying to win a place in the City team.
With the European transfer window now closed, Sancho and United do not have the option of severing ties, at least not immediately. Even when the market reopens in January, his contract (£300,000-a-week) has three years left and would be prohibitive for almost any other club in the world, as he hasn’t played well enough in the past two years. As one source said, Sancho must “accept his fate for the next four months”.
Ten Hag showed ruthlessness with players he no longer trusted, asking Eric Bailly to train with the reserves ahead of his free transfer to Besiktas, and even cutting Donny van de Beek – one of his former players from Ajax – from the 25-man squad. The starting line-up for this season’s Champions League campaign.
“All I want to do is play football,” read another part of Sancho’s statement. It may not be at United.
