Romano rejects Man Utd dressing room myth over Sancho as he makes Ten Hag sack claim

Fabrizio Romano insists recent reports indicating Manchester United dressing room unrest over Jadon Sancho and Erik ten Hag have been blown out of proportion.

Sancho came off the bench in their first three Premier League matches of the season before being omitted from their squad completely for their 3-1 loss to Arsenal before the international break.

Ten Hag indicated it was because of the England international’s poor performance in training but the Man Utd winger took to social media to dismiss those claims and insist he’d become a “scapegoat”.

Sancho deleted his social media post but is refusing to apologise to Ten Hag with the 23-year-old made to train away from the first-team squad.

And transfer expert Romano has brought the latest on Sancho’s situation at Man Utd and the impact it’s having on the club as a whole.

Romano told The United Stand: “On the player’s side they have a different version to this story, they believe that there is something different in the relationship between Jadon and Ten Hag, so it’s not just about the training sessions. They believe there is something else in this story and not just the training sessions.

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“So it’s a very tense situation and the idea, as things stand, for Erik ten Hag is very clear: the only way back for Jadon Sancho is to apologise to the coaching staff, the manager and also in public to his team-mates.”

On a potential January exit for Sancho, Romano added: “We had a lot of rumours over the summer and also in the last days about Borussia Dortmund. But, from what I’m hearing Borussia Dortmund, as of today they have different plans, looking for different players. So let’s see if Sancho will be on the market in January, maybe they can consider that opportunity.

“But at the moment for Dortmund there are different priorities on the market. Also, about English clubs, at the moment no-one called Man Utd to prepare something for January. We are not yet at that stage.”

On reports that players weren’t happy with the way Man Utd boss Ten Hag has handled Sancho’s situation, Romano continued: “I respect all the reports that we’ve had, a lot of leaks over the last couple of weeks from Manchester United and the situation inside the dressing room.

“What I’m hearing is that it’s obvious in some moments, when in football things are not going the right way, Man United had a couple of difficult games in the last few weeks, obviously you have some tense situations. I think that’s absolutely normal but it was never something like breaking a relationship between players or breaking the relationship between Erik ten Hag, the coaching staff and the players. We were never at that point.

“There was someone tense moments but I think that’s obvious. I think it’s also positive in one sense when you lose games to have players who are not happy with the situation, who wants to speak to each other.

“So I think this is absolutely normal in the dressing room of a top club like Man United when you are not winning games, you have that kind of moments when players speak to each other, when they speak to the manager, when they try to find the solution together. I think this is what happened.

“And what I’m hearing, from sources close to some players, is that this was the feeling, it was never a negative feeling like someone wants to break the relationship with the coach, with the coaching staff or with a team-mate.”

When asked whether everyone in the Man Utd hierarchy is still behind Ten Hag, Romano replied: “What I’m hearing is 100 per cent yes. At the moment he is the face of his project, the idea behind this project, with a very good relationship with the players, in a very good relationship with the board.

“So I think they understand at the club that they’ve been a bit unlucky at the beginning of the season with all the problems we’ve mentioned.

“I would be absolutely shocked to see Erik ten Hag fired this season at Manchester United. It would be something completely crazy or an incredible bad run of results, but at the moment the situation is 100 per cent under control.

“Erik ten Hag is also 100 per cent committed to Manchester United, in terms of present but also future.