Sancho was dissatisfied because he was not given the number 7 shirt
Sancho once made a strong impression at Dortmund with 50 goals and 65 assists, causing Man Utd to spend 107 million USD to recruit in the summer of 2021. According to The Athletic, at that time, the "Red Devils" side promised to give Sancho the number 7 shirt. but playing time at Dortmund during the negotiation process.
But the owner of Old Trafford changed his mind after signing a contract with Cristiano Ronaldo at the end of the 2021 summer transfer period. The Portuguese striker immediately took Edinson Cavani's number 7 shirt, and Sancho had to wear number 25.
Even when Ronaldo leaves the club at the end of 2022, Sancho will not be given shirt number 7. This summer, Man Utd gave this legendary shirt number to rookie Mason Mount - who was recruited from Chelsea for a total transfer fee of 76 million dollars.
Professionally, Sancho performed poorly under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but gradually improved under Ralf Rangnick. But according to The Athletic, Ronaldo was not satisfied with Rangnick's tactics and complained directly to the German coach.
The Portuguese star wants Man Utd to use a two-striker scheme, instead of Rangnick's preferred 4-3-3 system. But with Sancho scoring twice in the last three matches, Rangnick refused to make a change because he believed the two-striker system would "hinder the Englishman's form".
Then, in an interview with Piers Morgan, Ronaldo publicly criticized and said that Rangnick's appointment made Man Utd lag behind top clubs. "No one knew Rangnick before he came to Man Utd. Not only me but the whole world were stunned when they learned that Man Utd appointed a Technical Director like him to the position of coach," the 38-year-old striker expressed.
Also according to The Athletic, Sancho and coach Erik ten Hag have been in conflict since last season. With Sancho often arriving late, the Dutch coach tried to change his players by scheduling the 23-year-old midfielder's training schedule an hour earlier than his teammates. Ten Hag's approach was initially effective, but Sancho did not comply with this request for too long.
After losing 1-3 to Arsenal in round 4 of the Premier League, Ten Hag said that Sancho's training was ineffective so he was removed from the playing list. Less than an hour later, on X - the social network formerly known as Twitter, the English player posted a message implying that Ten Hag lied, claiming that he was a "scapegoat" for a long time and that he was The name drop in the Arsenal match comes from many other reasons that cannot be made public.
On September 12, Sancho deleted this public post "in response" to Ten Hag. Ten Hag is expected to talk to Sancho to clarify this player's future before the match against Brighton on September 16. According to Sky Sports, director of football John Murtough and managing director Richard Arnold will intervene in talks to resolve this dispute between the two teachers and students.
Sancho has never met expectations in his two years at Old Trafford, contributing only 12 goals and six assists in 79 matches. Last season, he was even absent from October 22 to early February 2023 when he had to take time off to treat psychological and physical problems in the Netherlands. This season, the 23-year-old was a substitute in all three Premier League matches, appearing for a total of 76 minutes but not contributing to any goals, before being removed from the Arsenal squad.
