Manchester United winger Jadon Sancho has not had the impact he would have wanted since making the switch to Old Trafford, and his Twitter post a few days ago has raised the prospect of him potentially exiting the club in the near future. The ex-Borussia Dortmund man however does not have long to secure a move elsewhere, should he wish.
Sancho would have until the close of play today should he be tempted to shift across to the Saudi Pro League, which their window slamming shut tonight. The windows of various leagues close at different points over the next few weeks, with teams in Turkey able to sign players until September 15th, Greece September 11th and Qatar on September 18th.
The now infamous tweet created by Sancho saw him essentially disagree with the comments from his manager, Erik ten Hag, who suggested the player was left out of the squad for the weekend Premier League loss to rivals Arsenal because of his poor performances in training. Speaking after the game (ESPN quotes), ten Hag revealed why the player was not involved,
“On his performance in training we didn't select him. You have to reach the level every day at Manchester United. You can make choices in the front line, so in this game he wasn't selected.”
Shortly after these comments were made, 23-year-old Sancho decided to reply via his official Twitter account, expressing his unhappiness,
“I will not allow people saying things that is completely untrue. I have conducted myself in training very well this week. I believe there are other reasons for this matter that I won't get into, I've been a scapegoat for a long time which isn't fair!”
Social media is also awash of claims from around the club that Sancho's behaviour is somewhat questionable and his attitude could be better. With all this noise at this moment in time, Sancho may be open to a move away from the club, although he did state in his tweet that he will ‘continue to fight for this badge no matter what'.
Even so, if ten Hag elects to push him out of the door, perhaps by informing him he will no longer be considered for selection, it could trigger a flurry of clubs chasing his signature. Whilst his time with The Red Devils hasn't gone to plan, he hasn't become a bad player overnight and his time at Borussia Dortmund means he still holds a strong enough reputation in the game to command a good move if he wanted.
There may well be legs in that as journalist Rudy Galetti has confirmed that a club in Saudi Arabia are exploring the possibility of signing Sancho. He described this as an ‘evolving situation', but time is against them with their window closing tonight. Finances of course shouldn't be an issue, but Sancho does seem as though he wants to stay and battle for his place. The comments of his manager though may force him to change that thinking.
A transfer to Turkey is not ruled out either, and social media whispers from some unofficial sources suggests there could potentially be some legs in that. There would be more time to get a move to that league with their headline open for another week. Recent developments suggest that Sancho leaving Old Trafford just cannot be ruled out.
Jadon Sancho to Al Ettifaq?
Update: As soon as it was starting to boil over, it was shut down. The Athletic's David Ornstein has come out to confirm that Sancho isn't off to the Saudi League. With the transfer deadline tonight, it looks like Sancho will be staying at Manchester United till at least January.
According to UK journalist Graeme Bailey, Saudi Pro League club Al Ettifaq is looking to make a late swoop for Jadon Sancho on loan. With it looking like he needs to move now or face sitting on the bench till January, Sancho has a big call to make. Strickly a loan move, it would give Sancho the chance to get football again, and for Manchester United they could save a lot of money on his wages.
The problem, of course, comes when you look at Sancho's career. Moving to Manchester United in a big money move, Sancho had the world at his feet. Now, two seasons later it looks like he's being thrown to the wolves and isn't wanted in Manchester. What's a surprise is that Sancho never looked to force a move to a higher-calibre league sooner. The other option for Sancho is to hold fire until January and look to move within England or Europe.
