For Jadon Sancho, sorry still seems to be the hardest word, leaving a January exit looming large for a player whose Manchester United career has barely got off the ground.
United boss Erik ten Hag is adamant the only way the exiled Sancho can be brought back in from the cold, after he effectively called his manager a liar, is if he issues an apology in front of the squad.
That is something the England forward feels he should not have to do. So here we are, left with a supremely talented footballer, who arrived in Manchester with the world at his feet two years ago, training alone at United’s academy facilities.
Sancho was cast aside following United’s 3-1 defeat at Arsenal in early September, with Ten Hag insisting he had omitted Sancho from his squad due to a lack of application on the training ground.
The 23-year-old then took to social media hours later to publicly claim he had been made to feel like a "scapegoat for a long time".
Sancho has not been in a single Ten Hag squad since and, as a result, the club are willing to cut their losses in January and let Sancho leave, either for a cut-price permanent deal or a loan move. Juventus and former club Borussia Dortmund have contacted Sancho’s representatives about a potential transfer.
The player himself is open to leaving, but it is understood a loan move would be preferred. Sancho does not want to completely give up on his United career just yet, as the club's woeful form and the possibility Ten Hag leaves could hand him a future role under a different coach. The manager himself is happy to let him go.
Ten Hag has the backing of senior figures at United, who have been impressed with how the new boss has instilled some much-needed discipline, perhaps best illustrated by Cristiano Ronaldo’s swift departure following his infamous interview with Piers Morgan in which he criticised many areas of the club.
Ten Hag is not the first coach to question Sancho’s professionalism.
Much has been made of Ten Hag’s lack of willingness to back down, but Sancho’s camp have told Standard Sport their man has no intention of conforming either.
The fact Sancho feels so far from his team-mates and Ten Hag suggests that the end is nigh.
Sancho does not attend first-team games as a spectator, preferring to watch academy matches at weekends. A few hours before United’s Champions League opener against Bayern Munich last month, Sancho was spotted playing the video game EA Sports FC 24, while he was at the Carrington training ground as United were beaten by Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on September 30.
There is more to the fractious relationship than meets the eye, however, with Sancho feeling that Ten Hag has his favourites and gives others more of a chance.
Ten Hag is not the first coach to question Sancho’s professionalism. The forward himself admitted he had trouble with timekeeping when turning up late for Borussia Dortmund training in 2019 and was fined by the club a year later for returning from England duty late.
Reports also claimed timekeeping has also been a problem for Sancho when on England duty. He has not been called up by Gareth Southgate for any squad since 2021.
Senior United players have done all they can to persuade Sancho to knock on his manager’s door, while the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) has also offered to mediate any dialogue between parties. They do not want a player who spent a period away from the club last season for “physical and mental health” reasons to be left to fight any battle alone.
There remains the underlying feeling, however, that the relationship between Sancho and Ten Hag cannot be repaired and, like many before him in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson United era, a talented young star will depart without having shown what he can really do at Old Trafford.
