A penny for Manchester United’s thoughts when a day that began with Dan Ashworth’s ignominious departure from Old Trafford ended with their discarded £73m winger, Jadon Sancho, sparking Chelsea’s thrilling comeback at Tottenham last Sunday.
Dysfunction has rarely operated on such a grand scale. United are a black hole, a place where young talent goes to disappear, but for Chelsea the opposite is true. Talent finding space to flourish at Stamford Bridge is not an issue any more. The development of Enzo Maresca’s side has moved at frightening speed and, after his struggles on and off the pitch at United, it has been fascinating to watch the joy return to Sancho’s game since joining Chelsea on loan in the summer.
“Typical Chelsea,” was the initial reaction when it emerged that they were thinking of moving for Sancho. It was seen as further evidence of their excess. With Raheem Sterling banished from the first-team squad, signing another wide player to compete with Pedro Neto, Noni Madueke, Cole Palmer and Mykhailo Mudryk seemed like an act of needless self-indulgence.
It looks like a smart piece of business now though. While Sterling has done nothing since joining Arsenal on a season-long loan, Sancho has been increasingly excellent for Chelsea. Not for the first time it seems that United have dropped the ball. They must wince every time they see Sancho impress for Chelsea, who have an obligation to make the deal permanent for a fee of up to £25m.
Of course these are early days. Sancho was underwhelming after joining United from Borussia Dortmund in 2021. He failed to settle in Manchester and was inhibited in many performances. There was no sign of the player whose imagination, easy balance and dreamy footwork bewitched full-backs in the Bundesliga. Sancho, perhaps weighed down by missing a penalty in England’s shootout defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final, played within himself and was quickly written off as a waste of money.
Yet this was a young player who needed stability and instead joined a mega-club constantly gripped by upheaval. Ole Gunnar Solskjær was fired as manager shortly after signing Sancho. Ralf Rangnick made no impact as interim. Erik ten Hag would turn out to be the wrong fit following his appointment.
Sancho needed guidance. He produced the occasional flash, scoring in a win over Liverpool in August 2022, but there was no consistency. The 24-year-old had managed nine goals and six assists in 41 league starts by the time he left United. The sense was that he lacked an edge. Sancho is quick but he does not have electric speed. He has the soul of a street footballer. He wriggles through impossible tight spaces, all quick feet and sudden swerves of direction, but for a long time it seemed he simply did not have the physicality to overwhelm Premier League defenders.
And so an attacker who made his England debut at the age of 19 began to drift. A spell out of the United team for personal reasons took on a new complexion when Ten Hag revealed that Sancho was experiencing mental health issues. The atmosphere was all wrong. Ten Hag’s relationship with Sancho never recovered after he criticised his level in training. Sancho, who was not close to making the England squad for the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024, was banished for refusing to apologise after publicly hitting out at Ten Hag.
Who benefited? Not United. Sancho spent the second half of last season at Dortmund and found a new lease of life. His standout performance came when he terrorised Paris Saint-Germain’s Nuno Mendes and helped Dortmund reach the Champions League final.
Yet doubts remained. There have been whispers in the past about Sancho’s focus. It is why there were misgivings about Chelsea going for him. Yet Joe Shields, Chelsea’s co-director of recruitment and talent, knew Sancho well from his time in Manchester City’s youth setup. Shields commands respect – he was also influential in the signings of Palmer and Roméo Lavia – and the deal was sealed on deadline day.
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Maresca was happy. “I love him,” he said of Sancho, who made his debut as a half-time substitute against Bournemouth and created Christopher Nkunku’s late winner. More assists followed in wins over West Ham and Brighton. Sancho, back in his home city, was in his element.
Not that it has all been plain sailing. Sancho was hooked at half-time against Liverpool in October and was then absent with illness. He did not start another league game for more than a month but when he did it went well. Sancho impressed in the 3-0 win over Aston Villa two weeks ago, linking up with Marc Cucurella before Nicolas Jackson opened the scoring, and he has been keen to push on. He scored his first goal for the club when he came on against Southampton three days later and it spoke volumes that he took responsibility when Chelsea went 2-0 down against Spurs.
Sancho, who has developed a good understanding with Cucurella on the left, is a smart player. His clever passes led to both of Chelsea’s penalties against Spurs but his best moment came in the first half. Driving in from the left, gliding away from Pedro Porro, it was Sancho’s firecracker of a shot from 25 yards that got Chelsea going in north London. “The staff have been telling me to be a bit more selfish in front of goal and shoot when I get in those positions,” Sancho said. “I’ve been working on my shooting a bit more. I know I have a lot of people to prove wrong.”
He is succeeding on that front. United are in the past. Their loss is Chelsea’s gain.
