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Manchester United and Jadon Sancho have an intertwined and complex history.
Chased obsessively in the summer of 2020 only for Borussia Dortmund to claim they were never close to selling the player to United, to then sealing a much more organised deal in 2021.
In a summer of great fanfare with the arrivals of himself, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo, much was expected of the Englishman but he has delivered very little of what was expected of him.
12 goals in 82 matches tells its own story for the 24 year old.
In fact, he spent the first half of last season being frozen out due to a very public falling out with Erik ten Hag and then the second part of the campaign on loan at Borussia Dortmund where they reached the final of the Champions League.
It was assumed that the winger would be sold this summer, with a move to Juventus touted, but the start of this month saw a rapprochement between Sancho and Ten Hag and he has played a key role in all of the club’s pre-season games and will very likely start against his old side Manchester City in the Community Shield this weekend.
The Englishman’s future is still up in the air however as it was relayed here yesterday that Paris Saint-Germain were in talks with United over Sancho and it has been previously reported that the winger would be open to a move to the French capital.
Nonetheless, United should give their talented winger one more chance.
Sancho has failed to live up to expectations in his three seasons at Old Trafford. There is no getting away from that fact. He was electric at Dortmund scoring 50 goals in 137 appearances during his first spell at the club but United fans have rarely seen this player in the Premier League.
At times he has appeared sluggish and unable to beat English based defenders the way he had done in Germany.
There was a brief spell at the start of Ten Hag’s first season where he scored a fine goal against Liverpool in a 2-1 win in August 2022 where things started to click but this soon fizzled out and he was removed from the squad by Ten Hag over the winter to train with amateur Dutch side OJC Rosmalen to get out of the limelight and get his head back in the game.
Nonetheless, Sancho is a supremely talented player on his day and whilst United cannot wait forever, he deserves one more chance of getting a full season of action.
His first season turned into a circus with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer being sacked and replaced by Ralf Rangnick, his second interrupted with mental health issues and last year with the falling out with Ten Hag.
Perhaps it’ll be fourth time lucky this year where he can stay injury free and be able to contribute all season with an extended run in the team.
Sancho was in top form last season at Dortmund playing an integral part in his side’s unexpected run to the Champions League final and looked much more the player of old.
Many have also spoken on United’s depth on the wings but perhaps all is not what it seems.
Marcus Rashford has looked good in pre-season but is coming off the worst season of his career. Antony appears to have added no guile to his game and seems as one dimensional as ever and Amad Diallo, despite looking like an incredible talent, has never had a consistent run of matches in the United first team.
Alejandro Garnacho is the only “sure thing” on the wings and even then, he is only 20 years of age.
In addition, if United are to move to a more possession based game, this should help Sancho who excels at unlocking defences with trickery and combination play. The signing of Noussair Mazraoui would certainly help in this regard.
Sancho may not be the answer long-term and a fourth consecutive season of underperforming would be indefensible but he and the club need to give him one more time to prove he can be something like the player that was promised in 2021.
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