EXCLUSIVE – Fabrizio confirms transfer fee has been agreed, ‘All documents are ready’, Another Man united player close to complete transfer move after Erik Ten Hag punished him for lack of Professionalism, Attitude, Workload and Discipline
The tense discussions between Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag and Jadon Sancho during their ‘clear the air’ meeting in September has been revealed by a new report.
Sancho joined Borussia Dortmund on loan on Thursday, with the deal running until the end of the season.
The England winger returns to Germany having not played for United since August, that being the result of of a public dispute with Ten Hag surrounding training performances after September’s 3-1 defeat to Arsenal.
Sancho has trained away from the first team ever since ‘clear the air’ talks with Ten Hag proved unsuccessful, and he has not been in contention for matchday squads even in the absence of other players in his position.
Ten Hag has refused to comment publicly on the issue or the nature of what was said between the pair, although did state in December that the door remained open for Sancho to return to the first team fold.
That, at least in the short term, won’t be happening – and The Athletic have now reported details of the ‘clear the air’ meeting that was planned for the international break after the defeat to Arsenal.
The report states that Sancho was initially granted a leave of absence during the international break, with the 23-year-old not away on international duty with England.
The meeting was then held at Carrington upon his return.
It is said that Ten Hag showed Sancho videos of the final training session before the Arsenal clash, which showed a practice match between United’s starting XI and a secondary XI, which would try to imitate the playing style of the Gunners.
The report adds that the Dutchman was ‘unhappy’ with Sancho’s application and pressing during that session, which the player himself disagreed with.
It is claimed that, after further talks were scheduled, United wanted the winger to both delete his social media post, in which he disputed Ten Hag’s press conference comments surrounding his perceived poor training performances, and publicly apologise to the manager.
However, Sancho did not apologise and, although he did delete the social media post, was not named in another squad until his departure for Dortmund this week.
The idea of the 23-year-old playing again for United under Ten Hag appears to be, you would have to think at this stage, extremely unlikely.