Sancho felt like ‘scapegoat’ at Dortmund – and has history of training trouble

Jadon Sancho's immense talent is going to waste at Manchester United – and he almost followed the same path at Borussia Dortmund.

At his best the dynamic forward is an innovative force in possession as well as a master of decision-making around the opposition box, but his time at United could be heading for a sour conclusion.

Sancho's absence from United's squad to take on Arsenal in the Premier League raised eyebrows before Erik ten Hag publicly called out a lack of quality during training sessions.

The 23-year-old didn't take long to defend himself on social media as he hinted at "other reasons" which may have led to Ten Hag sidelining him before the international break while using the term scapegoat.

READ MORE: Rio Ferdinand pinpoints what could await 'scapegoat' Jadon Sancho next

This isn't the first time that Sancho has fallen foul of his managers during his six year professional career – but other have hailed his conduct on the training pitch. Disagreements started a few years after Sancho's switch to Manchester City from Watford as 14-year-old back in 2015, for a fee that could've risen to £500,000.

In 2017 Sancho reportedly refused to train after rejecting a first professional contract offer having been heavily linked with a move to Arsenal.

During his first season in Germany, Sancho was demoted into the reserve squad by Peter Stoger for showing up late for training on several occasions.

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Despite that, Stoger was full of praise for Sancho during his short spell in charge, giving him the platform to flourish in the first team.

That progress was brought to a halt in late 2019 following a damaging Bundesliga defeat against rivals Bayern Munich. The Athletic reported at the time that Sancho felt 'scapegoated' and even 'humiliated' by Dortmund, following the 4-0 loss in which he was withdrawn after 36 minutes.

That came a month after he was suspended by coach Lucien Favre for returning late from England duty. The manager said: "The expectations for Jadon are enormous, but that is dangerous."

Despite failing to hit the ground running at Old Trafford after his £73million arrival, Ralf Rangnick took time to praise the forward's application in training during his time as interim boss.

He said: "It's difficult to say (why things haven't worked out). It's a different league, different competition and more physical and now he's playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world.

"I think it's also got to do with a lot of the things up here in his head. Whenever I see him train he's showing up and is one of the best players in the training sessions. Now it's about the transfer to when he's playing, showing the same kind of level and performance on the pitch."

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Sancho's firm stance on his own performances suggests he doesn't see the need to drastically improve, with Rio Ferdinand suggesting that a move to Saudi could be the only way for him to play regular football.

The 23-year-old has managed a total of 12 goals and six assists during his 82 appearances for United, having scored 50 and added assists 64 during 137 games for Borussia Dortmund.

Sancho's current contract, which he signed on his arrival at the club in 2021, runs until the summer of 2026. The likelihood of him sticking around until then, though, looks increasingly bleak.

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