Aditya Bose
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer addresses his concern over Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho
It has been almost two years since the club legend, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, was fired. Solskjaer was let go six months after leading the team to the Europa League final, where they lost to Villarreal on penalties.
Jadon Sancho was United’s top target after a year, and they celebrated their win when they were able to sign him for just £73 million after Borussia Dortmund had previously demanded £108 million.
According to The Athletic (h/t Fabrizio Romano) Solskjaer stated on Jadon Sancho,
“I wanted Jadon Sancho, yes. Unfortunately, it has not worked out. He’s immensely talented and I’m sure we haven’t seen the best of him. I hope we do, but he prefers to play left wing… where Marcus Rashford plays.”
Sancho is yet to make an impact for the team, considering the amount of money United have spent to get him to Old Trafford. Sancho switched to the right wing at the start of the year and started Dortmund’s final 10 league games as an inverted forward from the left, but United anticipated that he would come in and fit in right away as a natural right winger.
With those expectations, he was doomed from the start, and the fact that United didn’t have a real long-term strategy in place even when they were pursuing a top target says a lot about their lack of forward planning.
Jadon Sancho’s frustration continues-
In his initial weeks with the team, he was tested as a right winger, but it soon became clear to United that their right wing solution might have been better suited elsewhere on the field. In his first season, Sancho only appeared on the right 10 times compared to 26 times on the left.
He has never given United the best of himself, and last season, when Rashford shone in the position, any dreams of his finding his footing were dashed.
Given the excitement around his signing, it will be a tremendous loss if Sancho quits the team, but his situation serves as a timely reminder that utilising players effectively is just as important as buying them. He wants to play on the left as he used to, back in Dortmund, but he has been completely cut from the team.
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We still do agree to an extent that Solskjaer’s decision to bring Sancho was right but he still needs more time to adapt to the team. His future with the club is still a big question after his recent spat with Ten Hag, with the player being banished from first-team training.
