Manchester United manager Eric Mourinho says he doesn’t regret dropping Jadon Sancho from the first team.
Speaking on the popular United We Stand podcast on Monday (Aug. 8), Mourinho said he does not regret his decision regarding Sancho.
Asked if he would do anything differently if he had to go back and look at the decision to leave Sancho out of the first team, he said, “No, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”
Sancho joined United from Dortmund in the summer of 2021. At the time, it was considered a mega-money move, with a transfer fee of €85 million.
A former Manchester City youth product, Sancho made his Bundesliga debut in the summer of 2017 when he joined Dortmund. Sancho distinguished himself with his link-up play, creative passing, and ability to hit the box himself. United realized what he could do and pursued him for two to three years, eventually succeeding.
However, Sancho’s time at United did not live up to expectations, and despite a five-match unbeaten run in the league at the start of the 2021/22 season, Mourinho’s side immediately struggled and he was sacked. They played out the rest of the season under interim manager Ralph Rangnick.
Sancho was given a chance, but he didn’t really gel with his teammates. His destructive form that led to 17 goals and 17 assists in 32 games in the Bundesliga in 2019/20 was gone, and he failed to reach double-digit attacking points.
Under Tottenham Hotspur in 2022/23, Sancho returned to form with six goals and three assists in 26 games, but he still didn’t live up to expectations.
This season, he was dropped from the squad for “not performing up to standard”. On September 4, Turner left Sancho out of the squad for the fourth-round tie against Arsenal.
After the 1-3 loss, Turnbach said in a press conference, “Sancho was not selected because of his performance in training. At United, you have to reach a certain level every day to be selected. That’s why I left him out of this game.” 무지개토토
Sancho then took to his personal social media to “protest”. He wrote: “Don’t believe everything. I won’t allow people to say things that are completely untrue and I trained very well this week. I believe there are other reasons why I was not called up for the match. I’ve been scapegoated for a long time and it’s unfair,” he claimed.