There have been 41 days since Jadon Sancho took to social media to describe what Erik ten Hag said as ‘completely untrue’.
Sancho wasn’t named in Manchester United’s squad to face Arsenal at the Emirates on September 3 and although most suspected he was absent through illness, an explanation for his omission was given in the post-match press conference.
“On his performance on training we didn’t select him,” Ten Hag said when asked about Sancho. “You have to reach the level every day at Manchester United. You can make choices in the front line, so in this game he wasn’t selected.”
Within hours of the dust settling on that game, Sancho responded: “Please don’t believe everything you read! I will not allow people saying things that is completely untrue. I have conducted myself in training very well this week.”
It didn’t take long for that to go viral on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Sancho pinned the post in defiance. He finally deleted his statement nine days later and it was confirmed he was banished from the first team.
Sancho has remained on a personal training programme away from the group since and there’s still been no resolution found, which suggests there will be only one, inevitable outcome: his time at Old Trafford looks to be over.
There have been suggestions Sancho could leave on loan with the hope of outlasting Ten Hag, but that would imply the player has done enough to deserve to remain at United since signing in summer 2021 from Borussia Dortmund.
The truth is that regardless of this ongoing discipline issue, which must be an unhealthy distraction considering personal relationships between players in the dressing room, this season always had the potential to be Sancho’s last.
Sancho contributed 50 goals and 64 assists in three years at Dortmund, he was considered one of the most exciting talents in Europe and the £72.9million fee that United paid for him was viewed as relatively good value.
But his time in red has been a disaster and his regression has been alarming. The winger who excelled in Germany has never arrived in Manchester and he needed to deliver this season to prove he wasn’t a busted flush.
His transfer to United coincided with the worst season at the club for decades, so he was given the benefit of the doubt, but there were no excuses after his return in the spring and yet he still couldn’t perform.
