Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag held his weekly news conference today, and as you might expect, he was asked about both the Jadon Sancho ban and the Antony suspension, two high profile off-the-pitch cases. We’ll cover Antony in the next post, but in regards to Sancho, Ten Hag is seeking an apology from the player, due to the winger/forward having called him a liar on social media.
That is according to multiple outlets, who also claim that unless Sancho apologizes, he will be leaving the club in the January transfer window.
Brighton & Hove Albion at Manchester United FYIs
Kickoff: Sat. Sept. 16, 3pm, Old Trafford, Manchester, UK
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A very brief statement issued by the club yesterday read: “Jadon Sancho will remain on a personal training programme away from the first team group pending resolution of a squad discipline issue.” The English international is dropped for tomorrow’s home match against Brighton, after he took to Twitter, claiming that his exclusion versus Arsenal was due to reasons other than what Ten Hag told the media (the player’s approach to training).
Ten Hag declined to go into detail about the situation today, but he did reiterate his goal of setting standards for discipline at the club.
There was no good culture before I entered last season, so to set good standards, that is what I did and it is my job to control the standards,” Ten Hag said.
“Of course, it is never someone only makes one mistake, it is a whole process before you come to a certain outcome about strict lines. If staff or players or whoever, there is a structure to cross lines so you have to be strong.”
According to reports, Sancho was persistently very late to team activities, despite the club taking extra additional measures to try and prevent it. Also, it’s not new for Sancho to reportedly have “attitude problems,” and supposed half-hearted efforts in training sessions. This reputation has followed him at multiple clubs.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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