MY ACCOUNT
Jadon Sancho seems to have fallen further down the pecking order at Manchester United.
Interim boss Ralf Rangnick opted to select teenager Anthony Elanga ahead of Sancho for the 2-2 draw against Aston Villa and the £73million man struggled to impress when introduced in the 78th minute.
It was another blow in a season where the 21-year-old has failed to live up to expectations since his summer move from Borussia Dortmund.
Ahead of United’s trip to Brentford tonight, we put the England international under the spotlight.
On the fringes
Sancho was expected to light up Old Trafford when he arrived this summer but it has proved a more difficult task than many predicted.
The Camberwell-born trickster established himself as one of the Bundesliga’s most exciting players during a four-year spell at Dortmund.
The former Manchester City academy graduate scored 50 goals and recorded 64 assists in 137 appearances at the Signal Iduna Park, with his return to his country of birth hotly anticipated.
But he has struggled to show his full potential since the move, scoring just twice for the Red Devils this season.
The lack of opportunities he has been afforded has not helped matters with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Rangnick seeming not to trust the England man as a regular starter.
The winger was in and out of the team under Solskjaer and now seems to have failed to impress his replacement after starting the German’s first two games in charge.
And the selection of Elanga — a 19-year-old academy graduate who plays in a similar position and style to Sancho — at Villa Park suggests it is his form rather than a tactical switch which is seeing him miss out.
His lack of involvement extends to the national stage too, having been a part of just one of the last three England squads Gareth Southgate has named.
Pressure cooker
Moving to United comes with pressure for any player but for a 21-year-old returning to his native country with a £73m price tag, it will be taken to another level.
Compare that to being a mostly unknown quantity when arriving in Germany and it is easy to see how things are slightly different in Manchester.
Prior to his move to United, Sancho opened up on how a lack of distractions whilst abroad allowed him to fully focus on improving on his game.
He told England’s Lion’s Den podcast: “Living in Germany is very different. I don’t have my family and friends around me so everything I do is by myself.
“I do like living by myself. It helps me focus on the games. There are no distractions.”
Barring internationals, Sancho had barely experienced senior English football before this season.
So much like when a foreign player comes to the Premier League for the first time, he may just need time to adjust.
And his current manager said as much before the trip to Brentford this evening.
Rangnick said: “It’s a different league and he is playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world. It’s also got to do with a lot of the things up here in his head.
“The level of expectation was a lot lower compared to a situation where you come to a club like Manchester United for a high transfer fee with a high level of expectation.
“Everyone expected from him that he would be one of the best players in the team. This is psychologically and emotionally a more challenging situation than the one at Borussia Dortmund.”
Signs of quality
While he has struggled overall, there have been some glimpses of the Sancho we saw at Dortmund.
Following Solskjaer’s sacking, he came to life under Michael Carrick — scoring in two of the three games the caretaker boss took charge of.
He has not had the same impact under Rangnick but the new manager is under no illusions about the quality he has at his disposal.
Rangnick added on the No25: “Whenever I see him [Sancho] train, he’s showing that he’s one of the best players in the training sessions.
“But now it’s about transferring that to when he’s playing and showing the same kind of level and performance on the pitch.”
A new system
Of course, Sancho is not the only player who has underperformed at United this season.
Having three different managers by December is usually a sign a team is not performing well as a whole and that will not have helped the bedding in process.
At BVB, Sancho did most of his worth operating as a left-winger in a 4-2-3-1 formation, a similar set-up to the one deployed by Solskjaer.
Rangnick tried to implement 4-2-2-2 with the Red Devils — the narrow approach not suiting Sancho’s tendency to hurt teams by coming infield from wide starting positions.
The German has since returned 4-2-3-1, which could offer the trickster a way back into team over the coming weeks.
Sancho thrived most whilst playing as part of a structured and functional side at Dortmund, perhaps losing his way amongst United’s more individualistic approach under their previous boss.
As he settles more and begins to understand what Rangnick demands of him, there is every chance Sancho could turn his fortunes around.
