Jadon Sancho already proving point to Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag after Dortmund return

Jadon Sancho has made a bright start to life back at Borussia Dortmund after he left Manchester United on loan for the rest of the season in the January transfer window.

Not many players in world football have had a more disappointing season so far than Sancho. A very public spat with Erik ten Hag, his manager at Manchester United, left Sancho frozen out of all first team activity at Old Trafford for months.

As a result, the England international returned to Dortmund for the rest of the season earlier this month in an attempt to get his career back on track.

It’s been a positive start for Sancho, who in his first two games has already picked up two assists as he aims to send a message to Ten Hag ahead of his return in the summer.

The fall out

The relationship between Sancho and Ten Hag deteriorated completely following United’s dramatic 3-1 loss to Arsenal in early September. The 23-year-old was left at home for the trip to North London and when asked about why Sancho wasn’t involved after the match, Ten Hag revealed he wasn’t working hard enough in training.

“On his performance on training we didn’t select him,” the Dutchman said. “You have to reach the level every day at Manchester United. You can make choices in the front line, so in this game he wasn’t selected.”

Sancho disputed his manager’s ‘completely untrue’ claims within an hour as he hit back with an explosive post on social media. “Please don’t believe everything you read!” he wrote.

“I will not allow people saying things that is completely untrue,” Sancho posted. “I have conducted myself in training very well this week.

“I believe there are other reasons for this matter that I won’t get into, I’ve been a scapegoat for a long time which isn’t fair!” All I want to do is to play football with a smile on my face and contribute to my team.”

Though the post was eventually deleted the damage had been done. Peace talks between the two parties during the following international break failed to reach a positive outcome, leading to Sancho’s annexation from the side.

An official club statement read: “Jadon Sancho will remain on a personal training programme away from the first-team group, pending resolution of a squad discipline issue.”

Ten Hag maintained the door was open for Sancho to return to the fold but that it was ‘up to him’ to apologise for his insubordination. That still hasn’t happened, prompting a January switch to Dortmund.

The return

Sancho rose to prominence at Dortmund after he made the decision to leave Manchester City in search of regular first team action as a teenager. It was a brave move that paid off as he shot to superstardom with 50 goals and 64 assists in 137 matches.

United were desperate to sign him and had failed in three attempts to do so before they finally got a £80million deal over the line in 2021. Even before the fallout with Ten Hag, Sancho had failed to live up to the expectations he set in Germany in the Premier League but Dortmund were all too happy to take him back.

Sancho is already looking like him old self back at Signal Iduna Park and has grabbed an assist in each of his two appearances.

In his second debut he burst into space down the right and teed up Marco Reus for a tap in to help secure a 3-0 win over Darmstadt. Then in the weekend’s 4-0 victory over Koln, Sancho was pulled down after going past a player in the box and Niklas Fulkrug converted the resulting penalty.

It’s early days but it has been a promising start for Sancho. With United’s attacking woes continuing, Ten Hag may well be wondering if he made the right decision.