Ralf Rangnick believes Jadon Sancho is struggling with the greater expectation at Manchester United and the mental strain is taking its toll amid a subdued start at the club.
Sancho, 21, has scored just two goals and failed to provide an assist in 23 United appearances - 14 of them starts - since his £72.9million transfer from Borussia Dortmund in July.
United coveted Sancho for four years prior to his arrival but he has struggled to perform and was dreadful off the bench in United's 2-2 capitulation at Aston Villa on Saturday.
Sancho was dropped after the defeat to Wolves two weeks ago and is unlikely to start in the Premier League match at Brentford on Wednesday night. Rangnick scouted Sancho while he was the sporting director of the Red Bull group and watched him closely in Germany, so is uniquely placed to assess the England international's chastening start at United.
In response to the opening question on Sancho, Rangnick was accidentally muted on Zoom and the club failed to respond to a request for the full audio of the United interim manager's answer.
“Difficult to say. I think it’s a different league, it’s a different competition," Rangnick said. "It’s more physical, it’s more pressure, although he also played for one of the biggest clubs in Germany, in Dortmund.
"But I think in total, the whole league, the whole competition is more physical and the level of expectation is higher. When he came to Borussia Dortmund as a young player, he was only 18. Now he’s 21, playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world.
"I think it’s also got to do with a lot of different things up here (points to his temple) in his head. But in training, whenever I see him train, he’s showing that he’s one of the best players in the training sessions. But now it’s about the transfer to when he’s playing and to showing to the same kind of level and performance on the pitch.
"It's a difference: if you come as an 18-year-old, unknown, talented English boy to Borussia Dortmund, from then on you can only improve, you can only make a success out of that.
"The level of expectation was a lot lower compared to the situation where you come at the age of 21, you come to a club like Manchester United for a high transfer fee, with a high level of expectation. Everyone expected from him that he would be one of the best players in the team. This is psychologically, emotionally a more challenging situation than the one at Borussia Dortmund and these are exactly the kind of steps that he has to make to become a top player for the next 10 years at this club.
"We can give guidelines, we can give him a helping hand and show him we are trying to accompany him on this way and give him all the necessary assistance that he needs but in the end it's up to him to take the next steps.
"For me, it is not at all a question of his position. His position is left or right winger, this is his best possible position. But again, it's not only about training at the highest possible level - I said that to him, by the way, the day before yesterday. Confirm the performances you show in training when you're playing on the pitch.
"It's clear in a 4-3-3 that he's a player for either of the wing positions, either left or right, he can play both. I think he would prefer a little bit the left side because then he can switch inside and shoot on goal with his strong right foot but, for me, there are no questions about his position. He's a winger, as we say in Germany someone who can dribble fast with the ball and, for me, there's not at all a question over the best possible position for him.
"With those kind of players, with creative offensive players it's all about confidence, being aware of how good they can be, then showing it in front of 75,000 or 45,000 at Villa Park. Of course, in the end he has to do that, he has to take that step again.
"In most training sessions, he is training at a very high level and now it's about letting that transfer onto the pitch in the league competitions, the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League, but he can do that. He has the ability to do that, there is no doubt about that. But now we have to develop him into that kind of player, show him the same kind of performances that he has shown at Borussia Dortmund."
