Michael Owen names Man Utd star who wanted Erik ten Hag to be sacked
Jadon Sancho “would have preferred there to have been a change of manager” at Man Utd over the summer, according to Michael Owen.
The England international came off the bench in the Red Devils’ first three matches of the Premier League season last term before Erik ten Hag dropped him from the squad entirely for their 3-1 loss to Arsenal in September.
Ten Hag explained to journalists that Sancho had been dropped because of poor performance in training, something which the Man Utd winger strongly denied.
Sancho took to social media to claim he had been made the “scapegoat” for their poor early-season displays, which annoyed Ten Hag and his coaching team.
But the Man Utd winger refused to apologise for his actions and Ten Hag made Sancho train away from the rest of the squad and reportedly banned him from the first-team facilities.
Ten Hag eventually opted to send Sancho out on loan to Borussia Dortmund in the January transfer window with the 24-year-old helping the Bundesliga side reach the Champions League final.
And now Ten Hag has welcomed Sancho – who has been linked with a summer move – back into the Man Utd fold after insisting that “anyone can make a mistake” and is looking forward to working with the England international again.
Ten Hag said of Sancho: “We spoke well. Anyone can make a mistake. If the player reflects well on that, then you draw a line and move on again.
“This club needs good players, and one thing is for sure: Jadon is a terribly good player. I hope that the click still comes and that he will contribute to our success.”
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Ten Hag seemed likely to lose his job as Man Utd boss earlier this year with one report claiming that he would be sacked after their FA Cup final against arch-rivals Man City.
But Ten Hag – who could only guide Man Utd to an eighth-placed Premier League finish last term – pulled off the unexpected by beating Man City to win the FA Cup and buy himself more time in the job with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS placing their faith in him ahead of the new season.
And former Man Utd striker Owen claims that Sancho will have wanted Ten Hag to be sacked in the summer in order for him to have a “clean slate”.
“Jadon Sancho took a really risky move in many ways but almost an unavoidable one in going back to where he was to try to reignite that spark, and he’s done particularly well,” Owen told Prime Casino.
“I’m sure he probably would have preferred there to have been a change of manager at Old Trafford so it was a clean slate and he could come back and hopefully start again.
“I don’t know what his future holds, but he’s certainly gone away and proven that he can still cut it at the top level.”
Former Chelsea and Liverpool defender Glen Johnson reckons Man Utd should sell Sancho this summer as the winger “prefers to be the main man in a smaller pond”.
Johnson told Paddy Power: “I think Manchester United and Jadon Sancho should shake hands and call it quits. He’s got some talent, but he hasn’t shown it at all at United. I don’t know what it is – I don’t know whether he gets on with the players, the manager, or likes Manchester, but as soon as he went back to Borussia Dortmund, he looked like a world-beater again. It’s almost like he prefers to be the main man in a smaller pond.
“It’s very rare that when the first couple of years are so bad, players can bring it round. Rather than messing around for another year, call it quits – he can move on to have a good career, and United can get some money back to sign a player that wants to be there.”
