Ferdinand reveals Man Utd ‘plus’ after Sancho ‘arrogance’ v PSG leaves Red Devils fans baffled
Rio Ferdinand has waxed lyrical about Manchester United flop Jadon Sancho after his incredible performance against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
Sancho was arguably the best player on the park as he helped inspire a crucial 1-0 first-leg victory in Borussia Dortmund’s Champions League semi-final at home to the French champions.
Niclas Fullkrug scored the only goal of the game with a thunderous left-footed finish past Gianluigi Donnarumma but the German club will be frustrated not to have a more handsome advantage ahead of next week’s second leg.
Sancho created lots of chances, including one sitter for Fullkrug after a superb run and cut-back, and looked back to his best.
The England international had three key passes, one big chance created, 0.35 expected assists and an astonishing 13 successful dribbles, the most by an Englishman in a Champions League game.
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Unsurprisingly, his performance has resulted in criticism towards Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, who banished Sancho earlier this season and sanctioned a loan move to Dortmund, where the Red Devils signed him for £73million in 2021.
Sancho v PSG: Where has this been at Man Utd?
United legend Ferdinand was very impressed with Sancho against PSG, but noted that we never saw this sort of performance at Old Trafford.
“He was shaking and baking top players,” Ferdinand told TNT Sports. “He’s making people dance. It was a joke what he has done today.
“We haven’t seen this probably since he was at Dortmund. He isn’t just a dribbler, he isn’t somebody who just runs and runs.
“He’s a footballer who wants to come in and play one-twos, be part of the game and the tempo. The arrogance is a great point as well, what I saw today more than anything which I’ve been waiting to see, and all other Man Utd fans have been thinking ‘Where is it?’
“I saw cage football Sancho today. This is the kid who grew up in cages with that arrogance and that little bit of swagger. I’ve been sitting here saying it’s there, but we haven’t seen it.”
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Ferdinand added that Manchester United fans will wonder why Sancho never looked so confident for them.
“He’s in the groove,” he added. “When someone gets in the groove, we see it in different sports. When they’re in the groove and the confidence is there, they churn these performances out.
“He will come off this pitch on a high, we’ll see all these people going on about it on social media, and love it, and rightly so. I hate to go back, but I want to know what happened at Man Utd. Why didn’t it go well there?
“That’s what the frustration used to be at Man Utd. He’s not doing that, beating people, facing the defender up and going ‘Right, I’m going to go past you.’
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“Also, the physicality of the Premier League. Was that an issue? I don’t know. There are so many different things you look at and think what it could be, only Jadon can tell us that.
“But you look at the way he played in a Champions League semi-final, you can’t devalue that. For him and Man Utd there is a plus point tonight, the value has gone back up again.
“Most teams are probably looking to loan him or nick him for very cheap. I think teams will be looking at that performance and go ‘If I can get anywhere near that on a regular basis, I will have some of that.'”
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