Jadon Sancho has claimed he is being made a “scapegoat” by Erik ten Hag after the Manchester United manager suggested the winger was dropped due to his performances in training.
Sancho is yet to start a game for Manchester United this season and was left out of the squad entirely for their visit to Arsenal on Sunday which saw his side fall to a late 3-1 defeat after injury-time goals from Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus.
After the game, the United manager addressed the English forward’s absence, clarifying that it was down to his levels of performance in training in the week leading up to the match.
“Jadon [Sancho] was absent [based] on his performance on the training,” Ten Hag said. “We didn’t select him. You have to reach a level every day at Manchester United and we can make choices on the frontline, so for this game, he wasn’t selected.”
However, the 23-year-old has since hit back at the Dutch manager’s words, with a public statement on social media suggesting that other reasons were behind his dropping and refuting the claims of poor training.
“Please don’t believe everything you read,” Sancho wrote. “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 which I won’t go into, I’ve been a scapegoat for a long time which isn’t fair!
“All I want to do is play football with a smile on my face and contribute to the team. I respect all decisions that are made by the coaching staff, I play with fantastic players and grateful to do so which I know every week is a challenge. I will continue to fight for this badge no matter what!”
Sancho has struggled to nail down a regular starting berth in United’s team since his £73m move from Borussia Dortmund in 2021. The Englishman missed three months at the end of last season due to various physical issues. He has scored just 12 goals in 82 games for the club in all competitions.
While Sancho watched from home, United extended their dreadful recent record at the Emirates. Having gone ahead through Marcus Rashford, they were pegged back instantly by Martin Odegaard’s strike.
Having seen Alejandro Garnacho’s late strike ruled out by VAR for offside, Rice’s deflected strike from a corner – followed by Jesus’s composed finish on the break – secured a dramatic win for the home side.
