admin Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag still believes Jadon Sancho’s career at Old Trafford can be revived despite recent public fallout.
The Borussia Dortmund player has only played a supporting role for the Dutchman since arriving at the Theater of Dreams and made three substitute appearances at the start of the season.
Sancho was then completely left out of the squad for Man United’s recent trip to Arsenal, which ended in a 3-1 defeat to the Red Devils as Antony and Marcus Rashford left wide.
Facundo Pellistri, Alejandro Garnacho and Hannibal Mejbri are all preferred over Sancho, whose absence has raised eyebrows as he is not nursing an injury.
Ten Hag confirmed in the post-match press conference that Sancho had been dropped from the squad due to poor performance in training, but the winger publicly disputed the manager’s claims on social media.
In a statement, Sancho claimed he had been made a “scapegoat” and insisted his performances in training were up to par and his long-term future was now in serious doubt.
Ten Hag is said to be disappointed by Sancho’s reaction to his exclusion, with it also being reported that the rest of the squad are fed up with the Englishman’s attitude.We don’t think exile is out of the question, but The Mirror reports that Ten Hag is happy to welcome Sancho back to the first team, provided the striker proves his worth.
The Dutchman was clearly stunned by the way their argument escalated, expecting Sancho to accept the challenge after publicly admitting his reasons for dropping him from the team.
Ten Hag is said to feel the whole situation has been “blown out of proportion”, and he hopes an amicable solution can be found that will allow Sancho to get back into his good books.
However, the former Ajax boss is also in no position to let his authority be called into question by members of his squad again, and he would have sanctioned Sancho’s exit in the summer had a sufficient offer come in.
Sancho was supposedly offered to Chelsea as part of talks over a deal for left-back Marc Cucurella, but the Red Devils abandoned their pursuit of the Spaniard to bring in Sergio Reguilon on loan from Tottenham Hotspur.
Al Ettifaq head coach Steven Gerrard also showed an interest in bringing Sancho to Saudi Arabia on loan, but the club reportedly refused to agree to a £50m obligation to make his stay permanent in 2024.
Sancho has managed 12 goals and six assists in 82 games for Man United since 2021, and he still has just under three years left to run on his contract.
As well as the Sancho controversy, fellow winger Antony has been accused of domestic abuse by multiple women, but the Brazilian denies the allegations and has affirmed that he is not worried about his future with Man United.
