Jadon Sancho ‘doesn’t want Man Utd return’ as his problem at Old Trafford emerges

Jadon Sancho will reportedly seek a permanent move away from Manchester United in the summer because he refuses to play for Erik ten Hag.

Sancho is currently on loan with his former club Borussia Dortmund after being frozen out by Ten Hag due to a disagreement at Old Trafford. He was exiled from first-team training after refusing to apologise to his manager over a row about his levels in training at Carrington.

The 24-year-old winger felt he had been made a “scapegoat” and sat on the sidelines until a temporary move to Dortmund was engineered in the January transfer window. He is much happier now he is back in Germany and a decision looms ahead of the conclusion of the season.

United have Sancho under contract until June 2026, with his £250,000-a-week wages an obvious problem for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the INEOS ownership, who have financial fair play considerations at the forefront of their minds. Sancho scored his first goal of his Dortmund return on Saturday and Bild reports that he is not interested in returning to Old Trafford in the summer.

Sancho is said to blame Ten Hag for the downturn in his career and does not want to play under him again; the fact he has scrubbed any mention of his employers from his Instagram account and deleted all posts prior to his Dortmund unveiling in January is an indication of his stance. Ten Hag is unlikely to feel differently, considering he was happy to cast him aside earlier in the season on principle, but United may struggle to offload him unless his form improves.

His winning goal in a 2-1 win over Werder Bremen on Saturday will certainly help. Sancho showed glimpses of his former self by skinning his full-back before firing in at the near post to make it 2-0. Although a first-half red card for former United loanee Marcel Sabitzer made it tricky for Edin Terzic’s side, they held on to win and claim fourth place in the Bundesliga.

“Jadon is not a player who has a really hard or precise shot,” Terzic said post-match. “He has a very quick shot – he is shooting before everybody else sees it. This is what we worked on this week, that he gets into these situations where he gains some confidence and I think that he did it really well. This was an example of what he is capable of, and hopefully, he can continue like this.”

Sancho returned 50 goals and 64 assists in 137 games for Dortmund between 2017 and 2021, but his confidence has clearly been dented by a poor spell at United. He contributed just 12 goals and six assists in 82 appearances for United after they shelled out £73million two and a half years ago.

Terzic is a huge fan of his and Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl is also thought to be keen on extending his stay in Germany. If they can persuade United to sell for a knock-down price then Sancho could get his wish this summer.