Sancho's Man United move not going to plan as he faces his old club

A bit-part player for Man United, yet to register a goal or assist, dropped by England and mocked in Germany… Jadon Sancho’s £73m move to Old Trafford isn’t exactly going to plan as he prepares to warm the bench against old club Man City

• Manchester United host rivals City in the derby on Saturday lunchtime
• Jadon Sancho is likely to start on the bench against club he left at the age of 17
• England winger has struggled to hit the ground running after £73m transfer
• He has yet to register a goal or assist for United and has lost his England place 

When the Premier League fixtures were released in the summer, no doubt Jadon Sancho’s eye was drawn to the date in early November when he’d face his former club.

Remember, remember, the sixth of November – as the saying almost goes. The day Manchester United would have their derby with Manchester City, the club Sancho left at the age of 17 in pursuit of regular football.

The irony won’t be lost on anyone, least of all City fans, that Sancho isn’t exactly getting that at Old Trafford.

Jadon Sancho’s time with Manchester United has proved to be frustrating so far after he lost his place in the team following a series of underwhelming performances earlier in the season

Sancho, pictured in training with Pep Guardiola, left Man City in 2017 to seek more game time

Sancho impressed for City’s youth teams but never made a first team appearance for the club

By now, the England winger had hoped to be dazzling the Premier League with his abundant ability, firing in goals and creating plenty more, his form holding down a regular starting spot regardless of United’s attacking riches.

Instead, he’s warmed the bench in the majority of United’s recent games, has lost his place in the England squad as a result and is being mocked on German sports channels as James Bond firing blanks.

His return of zero goals and zero assists from seven games (yes, 007) was too much for Sky Sport Deutschland to resist a couple of weeks back.

Sancho did look dapper Photoshopped in a tuxedo but the insults will hurt, likewise the increasing chatter from former professionals and pundits that United made some kind of mistake in shelling out £73million for him.

Sancho has been mocked back in Germany for failing to hit the ground running in England 

The England winger’s outstanding form at Borussia Dortmund has yet to translate to United

Sancho at United  

Appearances: 12 Starts: 6

Minutes: 520 Unused sub: 3

Goals: 0 Assists: 0 

He hasn’t hit the ground running at United as everyone seemed to expect and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer couldn’t really wait for him to gradually find his form with his own neck on the block.

With Marcus Rashford back to fitness, Mason Greenwood champing at the bit and Cristiano Ronaldo doing Cristiano Ronaldo things on a weekly basis to keep United blundering along, Sancho was soon benched.

It’s likely to be the same story on Saturday lunchtime. Any impact Sancho makes against City, where he played in the academy between 2015 and 2017, will come in cameo form.

City may feel a little smug but it’s far too early to write Sancho off as an expensive failure in the Premier League. When he gets his chance again, surely his quality will prevail.

Besides, Sancho has little to prove to Pep Guardiola or his former club. It was a gutsy move as a teenager to take that leap to Borussia Dortmund back in 2017, with Sancho making clear he just didn’t see a clear pathway to regular first-team football at City.

Within two months, he’d made his first-team debut in the Bundesliga. The following year, he was a regular starter and goalscorer in domestic competitions and also the Champions League.

In the 2019-20 season, he returned jaw-dropping figures of 20 goals and 20 assists. Last season, it was 16 goals and 20 assists.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, under severe pressure himself, couldn’t wait for Sancho to come good

A lack of game time has now resulted in Gareth Southgate dropping Sancho from his squad

Sancho made his senior England debut in October 2018 at the age of 18 and has since won 22 further caps. His penalty miss against Italy in the Euro 2020 final over the summer, having played only a bit-part role in the tournament, means he has heard the full bittersweet symphony of playing for England.

It’s more than likely none of this would have happened, or at least happened so quickly, had Sancho remained at City.

Chances are he would have been a Carabao Cup player for Guardiola while tearing up the under-23 league. Eventually, he might have emulated Phil Foden in reaching the first-team but given City’s wealth of attackers, there were no guarantees.

So Sancho was fully vindicated in leaving for Dortmund, who have an excellent track record of giving talented young players their chance to shine. In doing so, he accelerated his career.

But that second move, always likely to lead back to English football, was never going to be easy.

Sancho was left distraught after missing one of England’s penalties in the Euro 2020 final

But he was delighted to finally seal his move to United just a few weeks afterwards

United identified Sancho as the perfect player to sharpen their counter-attacking style with his lightning pace and ability to pick the correct pass or finish a chance while moving at speed.

But we haven’t seen too much evidence of that yet in the Premier League, nor Sancho’s capability of beating an opponent. There have been glimpses, for club and country, this season but little else.

Whereas a blip in form might not have cost Sancho his place at Dortmund, it has at United. It led to German legend Lothar Matthaus opining this week that Sancho made a ‘mistake’ by making the move. ‘Maybe he has more money but he has less games,’ he added.

It’s a quick conclusion to jump to after only three months at Old Trafford and it’s going some to expect every player to adapt instantly and seamlessly to a league they’ve never played in.

The £73m price tag was always going to be a heavy one plus the fact United had coveted him as a primary transfer target some time ago.

We’ve only seen glimpses of Sancho’s quality since his £73m arrival at Manchester United

With Cristiano Ronaldo and a host of attacking stars, Sancho will find competition tough

That transfer fee would have been far steeper had United acquiesced to Dortmund’s demands for £108m 12 months earlier.

But it’s undeniable that Sancho could do with half-an-hour off the bench in Saturday’s derby and for something to go his way. A lucky deflection, perhaps, or a defender slipping over to allow him through on goal.

Once that first goal, or even that first assist, happens, all the criticism was begin to melt away. Sancho won’t need reminding that he can always do more to ensure these fleeting chances don’t pass him by – the onus is on him to deliver.

And no better time than against his old club. Assuming he can get into the action that is.

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