Manchester United were NOT cleared to go public with Jadon Sancho’s mental health difficulties last season, before Erik ten Hag revealed the winger had been struggling in a press conference
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Manchester United were not cleared to go public with Jadon Sancho’s fight against mental health difficulties last season.
In December 2022, head coach Erik ten Hag revealed in a press conference that Sancho would be unavailable for a period of time due to ‘physical and mental’ factors as the attacker battled injury.
Sancho spent time training alone in Holland with coaches trusted by the Dutchman following Ten Hag’s remarks.
However, Mail Sport understands United did not obtain permission to publicly confirm that his mental state was suffering.
Earlier in 2022, Sancho came off social media, sparking speculation over his mental health.
A new row involving Jadon Sancho and his mental health has emerged, Mail Sport can reveal
It is claimed that Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag was not cleared to go public about it
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He has grown up in the public eye given his status as one of Europe’s most promising young players.
In February, upon his return to action for United, Sancho returned to social media and posted: ‘Wow! Just want to say a massive thank you to everyone for the support I’ve received over the past few weeks especially to the fans.
‘My focus is to give my all to my team and the club, I’m so happy to be back out on the pitch, see you soon.’
Sources close to United insist Ten Hag, who did not specifically use the term ‘mental health’, believed he was being supportive of Sancho in the aforementioned comments and continued to speak supportively of the player during his absence.
Sancho was suffering with an injury for a period of the five month stretch from October when he didn’t feature for United.
But sources close to Old Trafford feel it would have been difficult to explain the long absence as solely injury-related when that wasn’t the case, whilst Ten Hag also believes ‘physical and mental’ fitness are linked with a requirement to be able in both to play elite level football.
There were also concerns that not providing an explanation would have created unnecessary speculation regarding the reasons linked to Sancho’s absence.
The pair’s working relationship came into sharp focus this week after he missed Arsenal defeat
Sancho has failed to live up to expectations at Manchester United since his £73m transfer
Sancho and Ten Hag’s relationship has been thrust into the limelight again this week.
Ten Hag said after Sunday’s loss at Arsenal that Sancho had been left out of the match-day squad because the winger had not trained well in the lead-up to the clash.
Sancho called the claims ‘completely untrue’ on social media.
Sancho responded on social media later that evening, writing: ‘Please don’t believe everything you read!
‘I will not allow people saying things that is 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 get into, I’ve been a scapegoat for a long time which isn’t fair!’
United were contacted for comment on Thursday night.
Sancho hit back at Ten Hag’s post-match comments after defeat at Arsenal via a post on his social media on Sunday which claimed suggestions of poor training are ‘completely untrue’
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