Sport

Erik Ten Hag is finally unlocking Jadon Sancho’s potential

Jadon Sancho kick-started the Erik Ten Hag revolution. With damaging defeats to Brighton and Brentford fresh in the memory, the 22-year-old’s opener in Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Liverpool last August demonstrated what the Old Trafford outfit could be under their new manager.

United have come a long way since then. In fact, only Arsenal have won more Premier League points than Ten Hag’s team since the calamitous 4-0 defeat to Brentford in the second game of the 2022/23 season. Now just five points off the top of the table, Manchester United could become involved in the title race.

Sancho’s involvement in United’s resurgence, however, has been limited. While the England international showed encouraging initial signs of adapting quickly to Ten Hag’s approach, fitness issues and off-the-pitch problems made him a peripheral figure. The situation has recently changed, though.

Ten Hag has reintegrated Sancho in recent matches with the 22-year-old particularly influential in United’s 3-0 win over Leicester City on Sunday. Deployed as a number 10 in behind a central striker, Sancho scored Manchester United’s third goal and showcased his ability on the ball in a 45-minute appearance.

This came after Sancho started against Barcelona in the Europa League last week, which in itself was a considerable show of faith in the winger by Ten Hag. Sancho is surely in with a good shout of starting this week’s second leg against the La Liga leaders such is the impressive series of performances he has strung together. He could be a difference-maker.

“He is in the right direction but he is not at this moment achieving his limits,” said Ten Hag when asked about Sancho’s goal-scoring display against Leicester City in the Premier League on Sunday. “There is a lot of space for improvement for him and right now he is already on a high level.

“I’m sure when he keeps playing with the joy of football it will really improve his performance. Today when you see he is coming on in the midfield position now, great runs, great passes, good in possession and also, especially the one that gives me a lot of joy, defensive transition.”

Manchester United chased Sancho for the best part of two years as a Borussia Dortmund player, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer never grasped the strengths and weaknesses of the player. He wanted Sancho to give United width and get in behind when he has always been stronger with the ball at his feet in tight areas.

Ten Hag recognises where Sancho can be most influential. He wants the 22-year-old on the ball as often as possible. With Marcus Rashford on the left and Antony most commonly on the right, Sancho has given Manchester United a different dimension through the middle of the pitch. There have been flashes of the player that convinced United to pay £73m for him in the first place.

Despite their recent impressive form, Manchester United remain a work-in-progress. This is only the first season of Ten Hag’s rebuild of the Old Trafford team and so Sancho will likely have to continue evolving to stay involved. The signing of a new number nine, for instance, could change the circumstances once again for the England international.

For now, though, Sancho is finally proving his worth as a Manchester United player. With Ten Hag’s team fighting on four fronts (Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Europa League), the 22-year-old has been integrated just in time to have a profound impact on the season. Sancho might not be the player United signed him to be, but he’s a player who looks increasingly at home at Old Trafford.