Jadon Sancho's Manchester United future remains uncertain amid rift with Erik ten Hag

Jadon Sancho's future at Manchester United appears uncertain amid a growing rift between the player and manager Eric Ten Haag. Sancho was left out of United's squad for Sunday's defeat at Arsenal, with Ten Haag claiming he had not been performing well in training. However, the England forward disputed that account on social media, claiming that he'd been made a scapegoat for a long time. Manchester United have said they will be making no further comments on the matter, viewing Sancho's postings as an internal matter. Troubling for a club and for Ten Haag himself? Yeah, I think it certainly is troubling for Ten Haag. It's another dilemma that he has to deal with. You know, he had the Ronaldo situation last year and now he's got this situation with Sancho. And yeah, for sure, it's definitely something that would be otherwise dealt internally, but now is very much in the public eye. But at the same time, you know, I think the club has to take responsibility. I don't think Sancho comes out with something like this unless he does feel like he's been wronged. Having said that, it's not the first time that Sancho's application in training has been called into question during the Euro 2020. When Sancho was at the top of his game, reports emerged that the reason why he wasn't getting more game time under Gareth Southgate was due to his performances in training. When he was at Dortmund, even again at the top of his game, he complained of being scapegoated after a defeat to Bayern Munich. So it's not the first time that there have been issues behind the scenes with Sancho. The difference now is the fact that Sancho doesn't have the numbers to back it up. When he was at Borussia Dortmund, he was arguably among the top three young players in Europe in terms of his output. He was, you know, producing crazy, crazy numbers in the Bundesliga, you know, plus 30 goals and assists per season. And he was just coming off that run when he was in that England set up. So I think the difficulty with Sancho now is that his value has dropped massively. His in-game numbers have dropped a lot. And Ten Hag hasn't been particularly keen on starting him over the last 12 months. So, yeah, I think it's as much a problem for the player as it is the manager and club. Yeah, the club and Ten Hag, from the outside looking in, tried, it seems, their best to try and get him back. They gave him that break last season, didn't they? Which you can understand. Why the decline since Dortmund? How good was he at Dortmund? And how much of a shadow of himself is he now? I think he's a massive shadow of his former self, to be honest. I think he was the right signing for Man United. You know, for years, they had an issue at right wing. He seemed like the obvious fit. And his performances at Dortmund suggest he was going to easily adapt to an improved stage. You know, this is a guy that scored at the Nou Camp for Dortmund. He'd done it in the Champions League. And as Mikey said, he'd really nailed it in the Bundesliga as well. I think he was helped that it's a very transitional league, lots of space on the counter-attack, lots of space to pull out his skills in terms of his dribbling, his ability to pick a pass. And I think his best form at Dortmund also came with a flying fullback outside him in Ashraf Hakimi. He's probably never had that at Man United in the same way with Aaron Wan-Bissaka or Diogo Dalot. And then the year after he signed, Eric ten Haag arrives and spends £80 million plus on his very own player in Antony, a player that he knew very well, which didn't suggest that he saw Sancho as a player that he could rely on right now. Having said that, I think Sancho has been given a number of opportunities. He started 21 league games last year. That was only two fewer than Antony. And actually his form towards the back end of the year was pretty promising. I think he finished with six league goals and three assists. So having not started a league game this year, it probably felt like the time to get your head down, to understand your manager's demands. Having said that, this is clearly someone who has struggled with his mental health in the past. So I do hope he's getting every help he needs.