Jadon Sancho will be frozen out at Manchester United this season unless he finds an escape route in Saudi Arabia, according to Rio Ferdinand.
Sancho reacted to Erik ten Hag’s decision to drop him from United’s 3-1 defeat at Arsenal by effectively accusing his manager of lying. Ten Hag had said that Sancho was dropped owing to his performances in training.
The England winger – a £73 million signing from Borussia Dortmund under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – described Ten Hag’s claims as “completely untrue” and that there were “other reasons” for his omission and that he had been made a “scapegoat for a long time which isn’t fair.”
United were silent on Monday when asked if Sancho would now be the subject of disciplinary action and whether there would be an apology to Ten Hag, who had gone to great lengths last season to try to help the player rediscover his form and confidence.
The club described the situation as an internal matter and said they were not planning on saying anything beyond Ten Hag’s remarks.
But Ferdinand, the former United defender, believes Sancho will have to get used to life on the substitutes’ bench at Old Trafford this season unless he can get a move to Saudi Arabia given that their transfer window is open until Thursday.
“There’s no way Jadon is putting out a statement like that if he hasn’t in his own eyes performed well,” Ferdinand said on his Rio Presents Five YouTube channel.
“That’s the difference as well. On his chart, Jadon [might think] – ‘I’ve trained alright’, but the manager might have a different standard. There’s two ways this ends. There’s only one window open now and that’s Saudi. Or you’re on the bench or not getting in the squad for the rest of the season.”
Ferdinand overlooked that the Turkish transfer window does not close until September 15 when discussing Saudi as an option for Sancho.
The previous United player to cross Ten Hag did not last long, with Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Old Trafford by mutual consent last November in the wake of an unauthorised, explosive interview in which the Portugal striker claimed he had “no respect” for the United manager and felt “betrayed” by the club.
Ronaldo, who joined Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr on a free transfer the following month, had refused to come on as a substitute during United’s 2-0 win over Tottenham in October and stormed down the tunnel before the game had finished.
Sancho’s troubled history
Sancho was given three months away from United by Ten Hag last season in order to work on his physical and mental condition as the manager sought ways to help the player rediscover his best form. Sancho returned to the team in February and scored in his second game back, against Leeds, but his form was indifferent towards the end of the season and he struggled noticeably during the FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City.
With a shortage of options at centre-forward, Sancho was deployed as a false No. 9 in some matches on United’s pre-season tour of the US but Ten Hag has opted against trying him in that role this season, with Marcus Rashford starting at centre-forward in the games against Wolves and Spurs and Anthony Martial against Nottingham Forest and Arsenal.
Ten Hag’s criticism of Sancho is not the first time the player has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons during his career.
In November 2019, it was reported that Sancho felt “humiliated, scapegoated and unprotected” by Borussia Dortmund after a number of incidents at the German clubs. The previous month Sancho was fined and dropped before a game against Borussia Monchengladbach after he had returned late from international duty and was publicly criticised by Dortmund’s then sporting director Michael Zorc and coach at the time, Lucien Favre.
Favre subsequently substituted Sancho after 36 minutes of a 4-0 defeat to Bayern Munich when the team were losing 1-0 after feeling his performance was “not good enough.”
Sancho’s £8 million move to Dortmund from Manchester City in August 2017 came at the end of a summer in which the player had failed to turn up for training on several occasions at City after being omitted from the club’s pre-season tour of the United States.
There were reports during the Euros in summer 2021 that Sancho’s playing time at the tournament had initially been limited owing to his training performances. Sancho was also reported to have turned up late for a team meeting when in the squad for a qualifier against Andorra in October 2021.
