How Sancho's dream Man Utd move became a nightmare

Jadon Sancho will be absent when Manchester United take on Aston Villa in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Sunday.

That is no surprise.

Premier League rules prevent loan players appearing against their parent club, so Sancho is not allowed to be part of Unai Emery’s squad for the trip to the north-west.

Yet, in another sense, it just extends a sequence neither Sancho nor United can look back on with any fondness. Not playing at Old Trafford has been a common occurrence for a player who joined United on a five-year contract in 2021.

“A dream come true” was how Sancho described his move from Borussia Dortmund at the time.

The reality has turned out to be anything but.

The last time Sancho played at Old Trafford was on 26 August 2023, when he came on as a second-half substitute in a comeback victory against Nottingham Forest.

In total, he has made 30 Premier League appearances at Old Trafford. He completed the full 90 minutes on only 10 occasions. Aside from one seven-minute substitute appearance in the 2024 Community Shield, Sancho will spend the last two and a half years of his time at United playing elsewhere – Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and now Villa.

No wonder minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe was aghast to learn how much of Sancho’s fee United still had to pay, as he told BBC Sport in March 2025: “Sancho now plays for Chelsea and we pay half his wages. We’re paying £17m to buy him in the summer.”

Looking back, there are four key moments in Sancho’s United story.

The missed year

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made Sancho a key transfer target in the summer of 2020. Dortmund set a deadline of 10 August to agree a deal.

United felt the German giants were posturing and would let Sancho leave regardless.

They were wrong. Despite United increasing their bid, Sancho remained at Dortmund.

The following campaign turned out to be one of the most productive seasons of his career – 16 goals and 20 assists in 38 matches in all competitions. Sancho scored two and created one for Erling Haaland in a 4-1 German Cup final victory against RB Leipzig.

Sancho’s performances earned selection for England’s European Championship squad. At the age of 21, only Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham were younger.

The tournament ended badly. Sancho missed in the penalty shootout as England lost to Italy in the final, and, along with Saka and Marcus Rashford, was the victim of racist abuse, which led to one man being sent to prison.

Sancho never came close to that form at United, scoring 12 goals and claiming six assists in 79 games in all competitions.

Indeed, since that excellent final full campaign at Dortmund, his overall tally at four clubs is 21 goals and 20 assists in 173 games.

Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho celebrate Dortmund’s 2021 German Cup final win [Getty Images]

A tactical misfit

The second issue became apparent virtually as soon as United completed the signing in 2021 – 12 months later than planned.

Club scouts had identified Sancho as a danger on the right, with Rashford providing pace from the left. Sancho, whose integration was delayed by an ear infection that led to him being hospitalised, preferred to be on the left.

While Rashford’s form plummeted during Sancho’s debut campaign at Old Trafford, Sancho was never given a sustained run in his preferred position.

The following season was the best of Rashford’s career, when he hit 30 goals from the left-wing position – pushing Sancho to the right or to the bench.

Personal problems

A subsequent dip in form led to problem number three.

Sancho has never spoken about the personal problems that led to him taking a three-month break in the autumn of 2022.

Ten Hag felt it had been triggered by his omission from the England squad in September and the knowledge he would not be going to the World Cup in Qatar.

Speaking midway through Sancho’s absence, Ten Hag touched on Sancho’s plight.

“It’s physical, but physical is also the connection with mental,” the Dutchman said.

Ten Hag felt he handled a delicate situation sympathetically, which included arranging for Sancho to work with coaches he knew in the Netherlands before his return to the fold.

Falling out with Ten Hag

After problem number four, Sancho’s United career would take a turn for the worse at the start of his third season at the club.

He was surprisingly left out of United’s matchday squad for a trip to Arsenal in 2023.

Asked about Sancho’s absence, Ten Hag criticised his performances in training. Sancho hit back on social media almost immediately, saying he had been made a “scapegoat”.

“I spoke to Jadon as a coach, as a mentor, as a friend, and as someone who grew up on the streets and knows the code,” Benni McCarthy, part of Ten Hag’s coaching team, later said.

“But Jadon just wasn’t seeing it. He said, ‘I ain’t apologising because if I do, I’m apologising for being lazy, always being late, not giving my best’.”

Erik ten Hag puts his hand on the back of Jadon Sancho's head — Sancho played in two cup finals for Erik ten Hag at United before they fell out in September 2023 [Getty Images]

What happens next?

The stand-off between Ten Hag and Sancho lasted four months, before Sancho joined Dortmund on loan for the remainder of the season and helped them reach the Champions League final.

But they could not afford to keep him and, although United sporting director Dan Ashworth was credited with brokering the truce that allowed Sancho to join up with United in the pre-season of 2024, it was a temporary situation, which Chelsea seemed to solve by agreeing a loan that committed them to a permanent transfer at the end of the season.

Yet, after five goals in 41 appearances, Chelsea preferred to pay a £5m penalty to send Sancho back to Old Trafford.

This time, there was no olive branch. Sancho was placed in Ruben Amorim’s ‘bomb squad’ and had to train away from the first team until he joined Villa on 1 September.

United have an option to trigger an additional year on Sancho’s contract, which otherwise expires in the summer. In public, they are reserving their position on that. No-one expects it to happen.

At 25, Sancho still has a lot to offer. There have been glimpses of quality during his time at Villa, but it is by no means certain he will stay there beyond the end of the season.

“Seeing Jadon close up, technically, he’s got an awful lot of ability,” said current United interim head coach Michael Carrick, who worked with Sancho as part of Solskjaer’s backroom team and managed him for three games during his short stint in charge after the Norwegian’s dismissal.

“In and around the box; his ball carrying; his little plays; the connections; his creativity; the way he handles the ball – he’s got natural ability.

“He’s always had it all the way coming through. That’s one part of football.

“But – and I’m not talking about Jadon individually on this – it is just how it is and how it should be.

“You can’t just assume it’s all going to be smooth. It’s proven that it’s not always like that.

“You’ve got to find a way through it. If you are playing in a good team with good players and a good squad and depth, that’s part of the challenge to stay at the top.”

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