Jadon Sancho was not included in Manchester United’s 2-0 win over Burnley in the third round of the League Cup. The England international has not played for the Red Devils for two months, since the 1-1 draw with Chelsea on October 22.
So what is going on with this expensive contract?
Decay
Sancho started the season with a pretty good performance. Having struggled under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick last season, Sancho looked to have changed during the early stages of Erik ten Hag’s reign at Old Trafford.
Sancho shone in the 2-1 win over Liverpool, scoring the Red Devils’ first win of the season in August. And the runner also scored as United beat Leicester 1-0 in September.
Since then, however, his form has declined. The 22-year-old has only scored 2 goals in his last 9 appearances in all competitions.
Training in the Netherlands
Sancho is having too many difficulties.
A week after the World Cup in Qatar, it was reported that Sancho was buried in training in the Netherlands, away from the rest of his teammates at Man Utd.
The winger works with coaches recommended by Ten Hag. The former Ajax coach was very worried about the decline of the former Dortmund star.
At the time, it was said that Sancho worked hard to reach his full potential. However, Sancho has not been able to regain his best fitness when he has not played for more than 2 months.
It’s clear that there’s more to the problem than fans have seen from Sancho.
Declaration of Ten Hag
Speaking earlier this month, Ten Hag confirmed that Sancho is not in the right mental and physical state to play for Man Utd at the moment.
“We want to get him back as quickly as possible, but I can’t predict when that will happen,” Ten Hag said. “Sometimes he has problems with his body and mind. We don’t know why or what causes it.”
“That’s what we can do now to try to bring Sancho back, physically and mentally,” he continued. I’ve had a few conversations with Sancho and I don’t think he’ll be on the pitch anytime soon. He’s not healthy enough.”
After the victory over Burnley, coach Ten Hag once again confirmed that Sancho was not ready.
Man Utd’s plan
No one is sure when Sancho will return.
The Red Devils have no plans to sell Sancho at the moment, despite the player’s decline. After four years of pursuit, they did not want to give up their £73 million signing.
However, United still have plans to sign a new striker when the transfer market reopens.
They lost Cristiano Ronaldo at the end of November when the 37-year-old’s contract was terminated following an interview with Piers Morgan.
Cody Gakpo, Joao Felix and Rafael Leao have all been touted as potential targets.
Xiao Lam | 09:56 December 23, 2022
