Jadon Sancho - From Borussia Dortmund Stardom to Manchester United Sidelines, If He’s Lucky

When Jadon Sancho left Borrusia Dortmund in the summer of 2021 to join Manchester United, he left being remembered as one of the most tricky and dynamic wingers in world football. Two years later, and Sancho seems a shadow of his former self and looks as though he will more than likely need to leave Manchester United to try and re-discover the form that had people believing that he could be the soloution to Manchester United’s winger problem. However when you analyse and look back at Jadon Sancho’s move to Manchester United, it seemed to be doomed from the very start. The rumours about Sancho going to United began in the Summer of 2020, with the manager at the time Ole Gunner Solskjaer being very keen on the winger to joing his squad who were in need of a new winger. The move did not transpire and Sancho decided to remain at Borrusia Dortmund for one more year, going on to score 16 goals and assisting 20 in all competitions, creating a deadly combination with himself and Erling Haaland. This was enough to convince Manchester United to go back in for Sancho and pay £73 million to bring him to the club. United had finally gotten their main man who they had longed for for nearly a year, but less than 2 months later, he was upstaged when Manchester United decided to bring back Cristiano Ronaldo to the club from Juventus. In the first game at Old Trafford against Newcastle United that season, no one seemed to care that Jadon Sancho was going to be potentially making his Manchester United debut. All of the spotlight was rightly on Cristiano Ronaldo who returned to the club who gave him the chance to show the world what he can do. Jadon Sancho did end up making his debut that day against Newcastle, coming off the bench in the second half but not impacting the game in any major way, as it had already been settled by the main man Cristiano Ronaldo who scored two goals on his second debut for the club.

As the games went on Sancho continued to struggle to make an impact on the team and was even given the label “007” by Sky Sports in Germany, who were mocking him on his ineffectiveness in his first 7 games of the season after not scoring or assisting. He eventually did get off the mark against Villareal in the Champions League group stages, but only went on to score 5 goals and assist 3 in all competitions and never really managing to stamp his authourity into the starting eleven. His first season was not a successful but that was not necessarily down to him, rather a turbulent season from Manchester United as a whole who went from looking like title contenders at the start of that season to ending it with a toxic dressing room and a sporting director as a manager. Something that must also be considered when looking at Jadon Sancho’s first season is that it has been proven in recent years through numerous transfers that going from the Bundesliga to the Premier League is a very difficult transition. You only have to look at the likes of Timo Werner and Shinji Kagawa (who also made the switch from Dortmund To United) to see how difficult it can be for some players to go from a league that relies heavily on counter attacking football, to a league that focuses more on build up play and focus on rigid defending. The next season for Sancho was going to be the defining one.

In April 2022 it was revealed the Erik Ten Hag was going to be the manager to take over the Manchester United manager role and be the one to try and bring them back to where they were during the Sir Alex years. This looked like a match made in heaven in terms of the right manager for Jadon Sancho, as Ten Hag was known at Ajax for his attractive style of play that relied heavily on his wingers. Pre-season went well for Sancho, scoring against Liverpool in one of Ten-Hags first games in charge and then going on to start the first 9 games of the season in a bit of a mixed start for Manchester United under Ten Hag. He scored 2 goals in the first 9 games, including an impressive finish against Liverpool in a memorable first win for Ten Hag at Old Trafford which was seen as the start of potentially something special for Sancho and for Manchester United. Unfortunately it seems as though that would be the highlight of Sancho’s season, as he struggled to keep his place in the team yet again, with Ten Hag preferring to play his new signing Antony from Ajax out on the right wing and Marcus Rashford out on the left. Sancho was then given permission to train away from the squad for a period of 2-3 months for personal reason, but following a spark in form following his return, he yet again simply faded away.

This season started with no change in form from Sancho, which once again led him to being left out of the squad against Arsenal in game week 4 of the Premier League however this time it was not for personal reasons and was for unprofessional training standards according to Ten Hag. Sancho replied to this accusation on social media by saying that he had not conducted himself unprofessionally in training and that he was being made a scapegoat at the club. Since then he has not featured in the Manchester United squad and been made to train away from the first team, refusing to settle the argument with Ten Hag and looking more and more likely by the day that he will be allowed to leave Manchester United in the January transfer window, either on loan or on a permanent deal. The question that’s on people’s lips now is how did it get to the this stage for Jadon Sancho? How did he go from one of the most exciting young wingers in the world to a Manchester United reserve. There has been speculation in the past that Jadon Sancho may have an attitude problem, this was brought up for the first time by Pep Guardiola during Jadon Sancho’s Manchester City Academy days, that he did not like the fact that Sancho didn’t want to stay at Manchester City and break his way in to the first eleven, instead opting to join Borussia Dortmund. Many would look at this decision by Jadon Sancho and commend him for his bravery in deciding to take on a new challenge in another country in order to guarantee playing time. Some would even say that it’s comparable to Jude Bellinhgham choosing Borussia Dortmund instead of Manchester United when he moved away from Birmingham city. However Jude Bellingham wasn’t fighting for a place in the starting eleven, he was already in one, Sancho was not and decided that he needed to move away to get into a first eleven.

Another thing that has been noted about Sancho is his lifestyle, to which it has been reported that his former club Borussia Dortmund also had a few problems with, that being his gaming addiction which would lead him to stay up until the early hours of the morning and arrive to training tired and fatigued. This sort of carry on is probably what has led Ten Hag to believe that Sancho simply does not have the fight or the dicipline that it takes to play in his team. Many fans question whether Antony is good enough to play for Manchester United, but one thing that they have never questioned is his determination and his ability to help out his defenders when they need him. The same cannot be said for Jadon Sancho who is commonly found being on the backfoot when it comes to defending for his team and sometimes just looks as though he simply cannot keep up with the pace that the premier league demands from its players. Sancho also seems to be suffering with the fact that the standard of Premier League defending is a level above Bundesliga defending, which has halted him in dazzling the fans of Manchester United like he once dazzled the fans of Borussia Dortmund. All in all it just seems like the move hasn’t worked out for him and it seems as though its a case of right player wrong time for Jadon Sancho, who is undoubtedly a very skillful and elegant player, but one who chose a club who is in a very chaotic time in their history and one that just doesn’t suit the player that he is right now.