JADON'S NEW LOW! How Sancho went from toast of Dortmund and £72m Man Utd arrival to unwanted star left in awkward spot

It was seen as such a flex by those at Manchester United that, when Jadon Sancho returned to the north west, he chose them given his prior association with Manchester City.

The winger moved to the Etihad as a teenager and continued his development in their youth ranks but, despite being highly rated, opportunities weren't as forthcoming as he'd like and he chose to leave for Borussia Dortmund.

Rather than pursue the path taken by Phil Foden, one of patience, Sancho decided the time was now and for several years he looked to have nailed his decision. The Englishman thrived in Germany off the back of regular starts, impressing enough to become part of the Three Lions set-up.

The clamour for his signature was real and after scoring 16 times in his final year with Dortmund he would choose the red side of Manchester. Dortmund banked £72million and the next step in a career that had only been on an upward trajectory had people inside Old Trafford licking their lips.

In truth, his best football remained in Dortmund and, had it not been for a Brazilian named Antony, we may well be sat here discussing Sancho as the greatest transfer flop in United's history.

Imagine training with a team in the tenth tier of English football and them having to release a statement to confirm you're not actually signing with them. Obvious no? Well Flixton FC, of the North West Counties league, said on their social media: "To clarify, Jadon was not on trial with the club and was not involved in any transfer discussions."

If you wanted to know how dark things have got for Sancho, there's your answer.

The 26-year-old shouldn't even be in his peak years yet and still United allowed him to walk out of the door once his contract expired. Damning. Maybe even more damning is the lack of clubs wanting to snap him up for nothing.

The list of managers who have looked at Sancho and gone 'no thanks' is growing. Unai Emery at Aston Villa used him sporadically and opted against a permanent deal. Chelsea under Enzo Maresca went as far as to pay a penalty fee to avoid signing Sancho. And Erik ten Hag saw something he didn't like.

If you want to pinpoint a moment that really begun the demise then the public spat with the former United boss is likely it. Sancho was snubbed from the matchday squad that travelled to Arsenal in September 2023. Why?

"On his performance on training we didn't select him," said the Dutchman. "You have to reach the level every day at Manchester United. You can make choices in the front line, so in this game he wasn't selected."

The worry for Sancho is Ten Hag was not some bitter manager who had inherited a player he didn't like, these were comments that had been made before. During his time in Germany Dortmund boss Lucien Favre admitting he needed to be hard on the winger and club chief Sebastian Kehl called out Sancho after returning late from international duty.

“Like every other player, he has to know that no matter how good you are, there are limits," he said. "There is a certain framework in which all players can move with us. Football is a team sport. You have to be consistent and make a tough decision in the interests of the group.”

Sancho would ultimately never recover from his spat with Ten Hag, which led to three loan spells away in as many years. His performances didn't exactly portray a player who was due some leeway from his manager either.

In his first year at United, despite the fanfare surrounding his arrival, it took Sancho until late October to come up with a goal or an assist. He would score just three Premier League goals - the first of which came too late for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the man who signed him. He was sacked, but before receiving his marching orders claimed Sancho "will be a top player" after a poor start to his United career. That wasn't the only thing the Norwegian would prove to be wrong about during his time in Manchester.

Sancho once played in a Dortmund team that also included Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland. Dortmund, for all their history, is something of a stepping stone club and bigger things were always in the reckoning for all three men. Bellingham and Haaland have gone on to win Champions Leagues and dominate the teams they joined next.

Sancho's waning career owes to a poor decision over where to move, but equally his failure to fulfil his own potential is something he must own. He told Ten Hag that he'd been a "scapegoat" when the then manager called him out in public, but there's been no meteoric return to form once he got to play away from the Dutchman.

There's been one occasion, back in 2024 when Sancho made a six month return to Dortmund on loan, that the Englishman looked like that player who had the footballing world in awe.

He was key in the German side's surprise run to the Champions League final, which included a win over PSG in Germany. On that night in April, on a pitch that included Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele, Sancho stood head and shoulders above the rest.

The plaudits came flying in, deservedly so, but that outing was a flicker of light in a career that is dimming as the seasons go on. Fast forward two years, and he's fishing in a market with no one biting.

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