Two players in the Manchester United attack, Antony and Jadon Sancho, are in danger of potentially no longer having a future with the club; for very different reasons.
We covered Antony in the last post, in regards to Sancho, an ESPN report today claims that he’s lost the support of his teammates.
????| Ryan Giggs on Jadon Sancho: “When he came to the club I was a fan. I thought he would progress, which he didn’t really do. Ten Hag tried him in different positions, gave him time to get back into shape. For me, calling him out publicly is probably the last attempt to get… pic.twitter.com/3xWcK4enWY
— centredevils. (@centredevils) September 8, 2023
ESPN FC’s Mark Ogden reports that
“Jadon Sancho is facing a battle to regain the support of his Manchester United teammates as well as Erik ten Hag. One source has said that there is little sympathy for Sancho inside the United dressing room, saying, “The players have had enough of him.
This report comes the day after a potential Saudi transfer window deadline day move collapsed.
It is debatable how close that season long loan move to the Saudi Pro League came to happening, but what’s not up for debate is this: Sancho is on the periphery at United and how he’s handling his demotion is only alienating him further.
Ten Hag was asked why Sancho was left out of the squad entirely, after the loss at Arsenal, and the manager said the English international didn’t show enough in training to warrant selection.
This caused the winger to blow up on social media, and his Twitter post, where he called Ten Hag a liar, remains pinned to the top of his page. In other words, he is not sorry, about anything.
It seems like this is Last Chance Saloon for Sancho at United. There are reports that player and manager will sit down and try to work this all out, face to face. If that doesn’t work, then it’s hard to see any way back for the English winger. Ten Hag already gave him a multi-month sabbatical last season to try and figure it out.
The Dutchman even provided Sancho personally hand-picked coaches to work with him on his physical and mental fitness. Still nothing worked, and now United have a $90+ million bust on their hands.
Everywhere that Sancho has gone, his professionalism has been called into question, so at what point is the problem, you and not everybody else around you.
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.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.