MANCHESTER UNITED BAN JADON SANCHO FROM ALL FIRST-TEAM FACILITIES, INCLUDING CAFETERIA
Manchester United forward Jadon Sancho has been banned from using all first-team facilities at the club, including the team’s dining area, as first reported by the UK’s sports radio station, Talk Sport.
As per Talk Sport, United’s stance on Sancho remains unchanged and the club intends to continue having the English forward train away from the first team unless he apologizes to the manager for his comments from three weeks ago. Sancho has been banished from the first team following his public row with Ten Hag earlier this month after the United manager explained Sancho’s omission from the squad that played Arsenal by saying the £73 million-signing didn’t “meet the levels” in training.
Sancho hit back at his boss by posting a statement on social media in which he alluded to being used “as a scapegoat” and said he will not allow people to say things about him that are “completely untrue.” The tweet, which remained up on Sancho’s profile for nearly a week before it was taken down, was liked by his club teammate and fellow countryman, Marcus Rashford.
United boss Erik ten Hag responded to Sancho’s comments by banning the Camberwell-born forward from first-team training unless he made a formal apology to both him and the team.
A short and curt statement from United regarding Sancho’s banishment read: “Jadon Sancho will remain on a personal training program away from the first-team group, pending resolution of a squad discipline issue.” The former three-time Bundesliga Player of the Month winner has been training with the club’s academy players since.
United head coach Erik ten Hag has since refused to answer any questions regarding Sancho’s availability and multiple reports confirm that Sancho has also refused to apologize in face-to-face talks with the manager. ESPN reported on Monday that the English winger has, in recent days, been urged to apologize to Ten Hag by his Manchester United teammates. Advice that the 23-year-old has yet to act upon.
“I think it’s disgusting what they’re doing to him,” former Premier League and Tottenham Hotspur great, Jamie O’Hara responded to United’s treatment of Jadon Sancho via The Sport Bar. “I know he’s come out and made a statement, whether that was the right thing to do or not… but what is right of Ten Hag to dig him out when he wasn’t even involved with the group?”
“We all know Jadon Sancho needs to be better on the football pitch and how he does that is getting him back playing football. [By] getting him training and enjoying his football. What they’re doing to him right now is never going to get Jadon Sancho back to his best. All you’re going to do is mentally damage the football player and make him feel worse than he already does.”
It’s understood that a group of Manchester United players don’t agree with the manager’s decision to banish Sancho from the squad, although Ten Hag quickly waved away those suggestions last week. “I don’t know if it’s a leak but I know opinion, I know my players,” said the Dutchman ahead of the team’s game against Burnley this past weekend. “Everyone can make suggestions, [and] we are okay with it.”
According to The Times, the Players Football Association has also offered to step in and help Jadon Sancho and Erik ten Hag settle their differences but any progress on that front has yet to materialize.
United’s stance is that Sancho is available for sale, but any potential move for the former Watford academy graduate is expected to come in January as transfer windows within Europe remain closed. Sancho’s former team, Borussia Dortmund, are open to re-signing him and Saudi Arabia remains an option if it comes down to it.
Sources close to Erik ten Hag say the 53-year-old doesn’t take any satisfaction in banning the talented forward from the first-team’s facilities as Jadon Sancho remains sidelined for the long haul, barring a much-needed apology. Sancho was pictured watching the Manchester United Under-18s at Carrington on Saturday 16th, the same day the first team were playing Brighton and Hove Albion at Old Trafford.
As of now, there’s no timeframe for Jadon Sancho’s return to United’s first-team.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Ardfern. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.