Erik ten Hag recently suggested Manchester United’s issues with Jadon Sancho existed before he was appointed manager.
In the same week, Ralf Rangnick claimed he didn’t have any discipline problems with Sancho. Those comments were interesting considering Nemanja Matic has confirmed Sancho was often late to training and they both played during the German’s interim tenure.
“At Chelsea, players acted professionally, they were punctual and were never late for training but at United it happened almost every day,” Matic said last month. “Among the players who would always be late were Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho and a couple of other players. The rest of us who were always on time were angry so we decided to form a kind of an internal disciplinary committee with me serving as its president.”
It’s possible Sancho cleaned up his act during Rangnick’s time at the club, but there’s enough evidence available to suggest the winger hasn’t always been professional.
Pep Guardiola is on record questioning Sancho’s desire while timekeeping was a problem for him during his first stint at Borussia Dortmund. It was also a problem on international duty with England.
In October 2021, Sancho was late to an England team meeting ahead of a fixture against Andorra, leaving Gareth Southgate no choice but to omit him from the next Three Lions squad.
Lucien Favre fined Sancho when he was Dortmund’s manager and he once said ‘We need players on the pitch who are focused and ready’ when asked about his absence.
That’s why it was laughable to see Dortmund’s CEO shoot down suggestions he was difficult to manage after he re-signed for the German side on loan until the end of the season. “Jadon has no problem with discipline, I don’t know who thought that up,” Hans-Joachim Watzke said.
There have been doubts over Sancho’s mentality to play for a big club and he’s never looked comfortable in a red shirt. The 23-year-old had the world at his feet when he left Dortmund, but he now has the challenge of trying to recapture his form over the next six months.
Sancho needs to address his timekeeping and mentality if he wants to enjoy a fulfilling career. He has plenty of time to turn things around but must get the basics right.
Over the last few years, he’s built an unwanted reputation and his comments in a recent interview with Dortmund’s YouTube channel felt incredibly ironic.
Sancho was asked about Cristiano Ronaldo and said: “He’s a great professional and obviously he was one of my role models growing up. Again, I just love his mentality and for every young player that was there at that time, they learned to be at the top you have to train like you’re playing.
“Every day at your best, even in the gym, working and even recovery, sleep is important, so you know seeing him and playing with him was a dream come true because watching clips of him is definitely inspirational. I’m thankful to him and think he’s taught me during his time in Manchester.”
Ronaldo was often known to be the first in and the last out of training, even during his second stint at United, and it was questionable for Sancho to suggest his professionalism had rubbed off. If that were true, it’s unlikely Sancho would have fallen out with Ten Hag and returned to Dortmund.
Ronaldo took a swipe at some of the younger players at United in his explosive interview with Piers Morgan by suggesting they didn’t have the required mentality to succeed.
It wouldn’t be a shock if Sancho was one of those players Ronaldo was thinking of when making that comment.
Ultimately, talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words.