Jadon Sancho lands in hot water with ‘scapegoat’ comment

Jadon Sancho has landed himself in hot water with Manchester United after his comments upon his omission from the matchday squad in Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Arsenal.

The 23 year old reacted on Instagram to comments made by manager Erik Ten Hag after the game which stated that Sancho did not make the squad due to his training form. The manager said:

"“You have to reach a level every day at Manchester United and we can make choices in the front line. So for this game he was not selected.”"

Sancho later rebutted this public comment by defending himself on social media by posting:

"“Please don’t believe everything you read! I will not allow people saying things that [are] completely untrue. I have conducted myself in training very well this week. I believe there are other reasons for this matter that I won’t go into, I have been a scapegoat for a long time which isn’t fair!All I want to do is play football with a smile on my face and contribute to my team. I respect all decisions that are made by the coaching staff, I play with fantastic players and [I’m] grateful to do so which I know every week is a challenge. I will continue to fight for this badge no matter what!”"

Of course, these are contrary statements, and the player now likely risks disciplinary action.

It is safe to say that Sancho has not had the best of times since arriving to Old Trafford from Borussia Dortmund. Ten Hag backed his player last season during the World Cup by sending him on a 3 month retreat to rediscover himself physically and mentally. Sancho was brought back into the fold in the second half of last season, and whilst he has not yet discovered his best form in the red shirt, he did feature heavily in pre-season – even as a false 9 – which suggested that Ten Hag believes in a revival.

However, these comments are not going to help a player who probably believes that the world is against him at the moment. Last season, Marcus Rashford was benched for turning up late to training but responded instantaneously with his performance. Sancho is probably not going to deal with it as positively as this, which will surely put further doubts into his future as a Manchester United player.