JADON SANCHO has been told to grow up on numerous occasions but the penny has yet to drop.
While there has never been any doubt about his enormous talent, Pep Guardiola, former team-mate Emre Can, Dortmund managers and club officials, along with Gareth Southgate, have all questioned his work ethic and lifestyle choices.
And now it is Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag who has clearly had enough.
Sancho is in danger of blowing what should — and could still be — a fantastic career. Aged 23, he is no longer a precocious youngster.
Instead, he has to start taking responsibility for his actions — although judging by his social media post on Sunday evening, this is unlikely to happen in the near future.
Sancho’s United career hit a new low after Ten Hag dropped him for the trip to Arsenal.
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Having been accused of training badly, Sancho came out swinging and effectively called his manager a liar, while insisting he has been made a “scapegoat”.
You have to wonder whether anyone is guiding Sancho.
He is either not listening to them or if he is, the player needs to speak to another person for some better advice.
This is threatening to be another disastrous deal for United, who paid Dortmund £73million for him in 2021 and committed to a £350,000-a-week deal over five years, worth a total of £91m.
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Sancho completed his move to United a week after missing a penalty for England in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.
Since then, he has played just once for the Three Lions, with his 23rd and final cap coming against Andorra in October 2021.
England boss Southgate was not always happy with Sancho’s application in training in the same way Ten Hag has lost patience. But for United, the warnings were always there. Ex-Liverpool midfielder Can was extremely fond of Sancho.
Yet he was angry with his Dortmund pal when he was pictured during the 2020 lockdown having a haircut at home without wearing a face mask.
Team-mate Manuel Akanji did the same and the pair were both fined £8,500 by the German League. Rather than apologise, Sancho called the fine “a joke” as he clearly refused to take any responsibility.
Sound familiar?
Can said at the time: “Jadon needs a little guidance. He’s a great boy, also off the pitch.
“He just has to be a little bit smarter about these things. Everyone needs a hairdresser. He needs to grow up.
“He can’t afford to make mistakes like that in the future.”
During his time at Dortmund, Sancho held up the team plane for a trip to Tottenham as he left his passport at home.
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He was repeatedly fined for arriving at training late.
Sancho was fined £86,000 by Borussia Dortmund for turning up late to training from England duty in 2020 and was made to run alone in the pouring rain by furious boss Lucien Favre.
He was carpeted by angry Dortmund bosses for taking a private jet to Dubai with a videographer and was pictured eating a £200 gold-plated steak at Salt Bae’s restaurant.
In another game, he was subbed after 36 minutes in a 4-0 loss to Bayern Munich and claimed afterwards he “felt like a scapegoat”.
Once again, sound familiar? Even before his £8m move to Dortmund from Manchester City in August 2017, Sancho had failed to turn up for some training sessions and Pep Guardiola took him off the club’s pre-season tour of the United States.
Once he signed for Dortmund, Guardiola insisted Sancho reneged on a new deal with City after “shaking hands” on the contract.
Ahead of joining United in 2021, he was at St George’s Park with the England squad at the Euros.
Southgate admitted he had not featured so much because his training was not good enough.
The Three Lions boss took Sancho to one side and urged him to improve his attitude but, clearly, he did not take much notice.
Ultimately, Sancho’s performances for England had been disappointing, with only strong displays in a couple of matches.
The same applies for United. There have not been any 9/10 performances, let alone 10/10 ones.
His best moment was to kick-start the Ten Hag era with a goal in the 2-1 win over Liverpool in August 2022. But he has not given many United fans reason to jump out of their seats, even though they are all desperate for him to succeed at Old Trafford.
Sancho was given three months away from United by Ten Hag last season in order to work on his physical and mental condition in Holland as the manager was worried about the player.
He returned to the team in February and scored in his second game back, against Leeds, but his form was still nowhere near what was expected.
And now he is at a crossroads of his entire career and he has two choices.
Hopefully, Sancho will still find the right path. Maybe he can remember that a player can only remain at the top, like England skipper Harry Kane, if they remain dedicated and professional at all times.
Maybe Sancho can look at Jude Bellingham, who burst on to the scene at Dortmund shortly after he did.
Bellingham has made his move to a bigger club and is thriving at Real Madrid and will be a superstar.
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Sancho must make sure that he does not fall into the category of a wasted talent.
And an expensive one, at that.
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