It seems like every man and his dog have discussed Erik ten Hag and Jadon Sancho exchanging words throughout this week.
Manchester United are the biggest club in England and a commercial juggernaut among the world’s biggest brands, so for as long as the club exists, there’s bound to be back page splashes and headlines pouring over every ongoing at Old Trafford.
It might be the international break, but Sancho’s reply to Ten Hag has dominated the news cycle and it’s understood the manager has stuck by his comments despite the player challenging his version of events on social media.
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Sancho has pinned his response to the top of his Twitter, now known as X, seemingly in an act of defiance. There is yet to be an update on the situation, however, it’s understood Sancho could now face disciplinary action over his outburst.
The last player to publicly disagree with Ten Hag was Cristiano Ronaldo and the Dutchman came down hard on him. Ronaldo’s contract was cancelled by mutual consent and he’s now playing his football in Saudi Arabia.
There are other examples in the squad, like Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford, who have tested how firm Ten Hag is by being late to team meetings and both of those players felt the repercussions and had to respond.
Everyone has given their view on the situation this week. The story feels like it’s only at the beginning and Paul Ince, who played in a red shirt for six years, has now chimed in with his verdict by speaking to LuckyBlock.com.
“I remember, a few years back, speaking about the [Paul] Pogba situation with [Jose] Mourinho, that’s not how you deal with things at Man United. Especially with Sir Alex Ferguson, things like this need to stay in-house to avoid adding fuel to the fire,” Ince said.
“The media were having a field day with the Paul Pogba and Jose Mourinho situation. United haven’t started well and Erik ten Hag knows that. The last thing you need at a club like United is to have this kind of distraction come out.
“It could’ve been dealt with very differently. Ten Hag has his ways but when you come out saying that ‘Jadon’s performance in training hasn’t been great’, it’s not something that needs to be put out there.
“Then, worst of all, Sancho has replied back. This whole situation has blown up and Ten Hag could’ve dealt with it in a very different way. Sancho has been very inconsistent at Man United and I don’t know who advised him to put the statement out.
Sancho is expected to face consequences. (Image: 2023 Getty Images)
“But I think he’ll look back on it and feel a bit naive. When you’re at United, you have to perform every day in training. There’s no let off, that’s the standard we set when we were at Old Trafford.
“Jadon should’ve knocked on the manager’s door straight after seeing the comment and this whole situation could’ve been avoided.”
Although level-headed supporters will agree with most of Ince’s comments, they will defend Ten Hag for saying what he did. The manager was asked a question in a press conference and he answered it honestly from his perspective.
Ten Hag clearly had reasons for revealing Sancho was left off the squad against Arsenal for his allegedly lacklustre training performances and perhaps this was a last-ditch effort to trigger a response from the winger.
It’s probable the comments were made to inspire a response from Sancho at Carrington, but it provoked an extraordinary response from the player on social media instead, which has been viewed as a challenge to Ten Hag’s authority.
Almost every fan will agree that Sancho’s response was a bit naive, though. The player has a right to respond to something he disagrees with, but it would have been better for everyone for that to be addressed privately.
It’s understandable for Sancho to have gripes with Ten Hag’s continued selection of Antony when the £86million signing has been so disappointing, yet there are clearly more appropriate ways to voice those frustrations.
The situation is another mess and it’s ironic because if hadn’t made an outburst last weekend, more opportunities might have come his way in the very near future due to uncertainty around Antony’s future.
It remains to be seen whether Sancho has burnt his bridges or whether they can be repaired.
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