18 Dec 2023 09:12:17
Good Morning ed002

Any chance of giving us an update on Sancho and were things are likely headed in terms of him moving on.

Thank you again,

{Ed002's Note - Jadon Sancho (W) Borussia Dortmund would have taken the player back but would not pay more than half of what they sold him for and will step back unless the demands of the player and club are more reasonable. Newcastle may have provided an option but signed an alternative. Agent approached Spurs but they can be discounted. Perhaps a loan to buy in January for Juventus, but they will not accept an obligation to buy.}

1.) 18 Dec 2023
18 Dec 2023 13:31:26
None of those clubs should bet be considered a step up from Man Utd. Given there is hardly a large queue for his services, what’s Sancho playing at?

2.) 18 Dec 2023
18 Dec 2023 16:13:08
I don't know Sancho, but looking from the outside it seems that he was given too much money before really achieving anything in the game.

Instead of having a strop over the managers comments, like a teenager would do, he should realise that United are playing him a huge amount of money, knuckle down and prove you are worth it.

3.) 18 Dec 2023
18 Dec 2023 17:10:12
I don't know the kid, but from what I hear he's been a little billy big b*****ks at least since he got signed by Man City as a youth product, possibly before that.

Pep wasn't impressed with his attitude which is why he wasn't being involved with the first team in the same way as his academy team mate Foden was being at the time. So he swanned off to Dortmund, and was very successful, which probably didn't do his already inflated ego much good. He then gets signed for a massive fee to join the biggest club in England. He thought he was going to come back and rub it in Pep's face by being a star for his cross city rivals.

Apparently he first threw his toys out the pram in a big way in the summer when United re-signed Ronaldo as he thought he was intitled to the No.7 jersey despite an underwhelming first season back in England.

Although there had always been issues with his timekeeping, apparently he's fond of staying up past 1am playing FIFA, even on match days. Then struggles to get up and into training the next day.

Apparently he now feels disrespected by EtH, well tough in my opinion. EtH has gone above and beyond to try and help the lad, even going as far as to call in some favours to set up a mid-season break for Sancho over in the Netherlands to help him get his head and body back into the right place.

Literally agreed to give a huge asset time off, continued to pay him his full wages, and took weakening his squad options on the chin to put Sancho's needs ahead of his own.

But the kids doesn't learn, he came back and was up to his old tricks within a few weeks.

The manager has introduced stricter rules around the club in an attempt to drag standards up off the floor. Things like time keeping and not using your phone during team building and meals. Nothing draconian just common sense obvious stuff.

Most players have accepted it, some even prefer it apparently. A few have fallen foul of the new standards put in place and they have been dealt with fairly and evenly. It didn't matter whether it was the up and coming kid in Garnacho, or a star player in Rashford, both fell foul of the new rules and both suffered the consequences and took them in good grace.

Sancho on the other hand feels slighted and targeted for being expected to adhere to the same rules as his team mates. To the extent that he made a public statement and called the manager a lair and brought the club into disrepute. He has continued to accept no responsibility for his actions or to apologise for them. As such he is continued to be banished from the first team squad.

Which given the current situation and the need we have for players to dig in, rally around and show some grit and determination. Means that Sancho's isolation from the first team squad is actually essential right now. His poor attitude would only undermine any chances we have of salvaging something from the season.

Sadly he's proven that he will offer very little on the pitch, while his poor attitude off of it means he only brings negatives to the table and no reason to keep him at the club.

It shouldn't matter whether EtH has a long term position at the club or not, Sancho has proven he does not have the elite mentality the club needs in its players if we are to return as a force in English football.

Sancho has shown a poor attitude for Pep, for all his managers at Dortmund, for Southgate and England (which is why Southgate won't have him anywhere near the squad), he has also shown that same attitude for Ole, Ralf and now EtH (despite the Dutchman's best efforts to help and support him) .

He has to have burned all his bridges now and the club simply needs to find the best solution for him and the club to part ways. Unfortunately that will probably come at a heavy cost to the club, and stands as a reminder about the importance of doing your due diligence during recruitment. The new data analysis approach can be very useful, especially if used correctly by those who understand how to use it. Yet recruitment has to have a more rounded approach. Do the players pass the eye test? Are their stats inflated by the league or the team/ tactics they are playing in? Then the good old fashioned personality test. Sir Alex used to insist on speaking with the family of the players the club were looking to sign. Firstly it makes a great impression and allows him to start building a rapport with the players he signed, but mostly it gave him a chance to suss out the players mentality and what he would be like within the team. Is he a joker, is he a serious person, are they extroverted or introverted? Do they have a supporting network around them or could they fly off the handle unchecked? Do they have the right sort of attitude and fight, when things get tough will they get their heads down and work through it or throw the towel in.

Creating a well balanced team requires a bit of everyone. Sometimes you need a quitter in the squad, someone to act as the example of what happens when you give up. Someone who can be a lesson for those younger impressionable players, to teach them important lessons they haven't had the time yet to learn through experience.

It's all about getting the balance right, one or two players with a less then ideal attitude isn't a problem, especially if they aren't particularly charismatic and won't pull the others off course. But you can't make a successful team out of a squad full of them.

Players need to understand that Manchester United is a part of the journey and not the destination. You don't join United, then put your feet up thinking the hard work is over.

It's when you join a top club the hard work really starts, that's when you have to show up in EVERY training session because the competition for places is higher than you've ever experienced. It is at a top club where one poor performance might mean a couple of months on the bench. It is at a top club where every aspect of your game comes under the microscope and your weaknesses really exposed. It is at top clubs where the media attention is greatest, where your private life stops being private. Where the critics are the most cutting and least forgiving. Where away grounds become tougher as you are now playing with a target on your back as a win against your team is considered a scalp. It is at top clubs where a poor performance will hang around your neck for months but a good performance is forgotten by tomorrow. Where the minimum expectations start where the maximum expectations finished at your old club.

Players joining our club need to understand that, joining United is an achievement, it means you've reached a minimal level where the club feels you could be worth investing in. But it is the day you hold the shirt up and smile for the camera's when the real hard work begins.

We have too many players who feel they have achieved everything they need to and are coasting. They aren't putting in the hard yards. I remember back when Giggs would have been in his mid-twenties and the photos of his battered feet made the papers. Bruised and bandaged, with sores and blisters. He wasn't injured, that was just the normal state of his feet during the season when playing for United. It was at the height of his fame, and yet he was still expected to push through the pain and perform every week.

Sancho just wouldn't do that, he doesn't train if the water is the wrong temperature, or if he lost on his Xbox last night. Time has come to show these bluffers the door, raise the standards and expectations. Until we do we will always be drifting further and further away from the top.

4.) 18 Dec 2023
18 Dec 2023 19:57:29
You can't just show someone the door. The damage has been done and the cost of getting out of all these excessively lucrative contracts will be an expense in the current year's accounts. How does that affect FFP?

Sancho reportedly costs us £18m a year in wages, plus £13m in amortization. So we're on the hook for £75m over the next 2 1/ 2 years. We can't get back the sunk money but nor can we afford to write off the whole lot in one year. We need a buyer who is going to take over a least £45m of our future obligations,

5.) 18 Dec 2023
18 Dec 2023 20:08:46
Thank you Ed002

Sounds to me like United think they are negotiating but have not yet reached acceptance they are not in a strong position and will have to take a bigger loss than they want to get rid of Sancho and likely others.

6.) 19 Dec 2023
19 Dec 2023 06:28:54
Thank you ed002.

Sounds like a nose bleed job to get him out on par with most of our players.

7.) 20 Dec 2023
19 Dec 2023 21:24:00
Unexpected demands. sorry, utd should try and get as much as they can get, he cost £72m . Other clubs do it yet utd are expected to sell him for 10 quid? If you want sancho offer something and see what happens. utd have been accused of pathetic bids yet utd are expected to take pathetic bids? Can't have it both ways, but it seems with utd and the media they get slaughtered whatever they do. and its tiresome.

8.) 21 Dec 2023
21 Dec 2023 21:48:14
The problem is United are trying to sell a player that was never as old as what they paid for him. Who has been really poor on the pitch and really poor off the pitch.

United are in a weak position, so it isn't a case of United refusing to let him go cheap because no one will pay good money for him.

The alternative seems to be we keep paying a guy to not play. Sanchos body of work at United isn't worth a toffee and United aren't going to take anything other than massive hit on him.