Paul Merson feels Jadon Sancho will realise he “threw it all away” at Manchester United after refusing to apologise for a spat with Erik ten Hag that “he is to blame” for.
Sancho was banished from the United first-team squad in September after he publicly refuted claims from Ten Hag that he had shown a poor attitude in training and that was the reason for not being picked in a Premier League game against Arsenal.
He’s not played a single minute for the Red Devils since, remaining sidelined as he did not apologise to the manager, which led to his loan move back to former side Borussia Dortmund.
He hit the ground running with an assist on his first game back in Germany, and that could be the start of him getting things back on track. Whether or not it is, Merson feels he’ll regret throwing away the opportunity to be a star at United.
“Of course [the blame] is [solely on his door]. He could have gone to the manager and said ‘I am sorry. What I said was a bit harsh’. Even if he didn’t mean it, just go in and say it,” Merson said on Sky Sports.
“He will look back on this when his career is finished at 32, whatever age he is, and think ‘I just signed for the biggest club in the world and I threw it all away’.
“That’s the problem with football sometimes now. They get the money so quickly that it doesn’t really matter. The lad had it at his feet – he will look back on his career and think ‘what have I done?’ And he is to blame. He is to blame.”
Indeed, after a £73million transfer from Dortmund initially, Sancho had the chance to show he was capable of being a star at United, and while he didn’t set the league alight initially, he showed good progress – seven goals and three assists – in his second season.
Had he apologised to Ten Hag when he had the chance, he could have continued to grow into the player United thought he could be.
With that said, he’s had a promising start away from United, and wherever he lands permanently after his seemingly inevitable exit from Old Trafford, he could reach his potential there, and not regret failing at United.
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