Erik ten Hag shares a “very strange” request from Jadon Sancho that helped lead to his Man Utd departure
Erik ten Hag has shared an interesting reason why Jadon Sancho left Manchester United twice while he was the manager at Old Trafford.
Sancho was removed from the first team after a public disagreement about his training, when he refused to apologise to Ten Hag over concerns about his effort. He spent the second half of the 2023/24 season on loan at Borussia Dortmund before coming back to United. After a frank chat, Ten Hag said they had put their feud behind them. But not long after, Sancho was loaned out to Chelsea, and Ten Hag was let go in October 2024.
Now, Ten Hag has opened up about another reason behind Sancho’s first exit from the club—and it wasn’t just about training.
In a new interview with The Athletic, Ten Hag talked about his early time managing United and the big-money signing of Antony from Ajax in summer 2022. The club paid £81.3 million for the Brazilian winger. Although Antony had a promising start, he didn’t consistently perform as fans hoped for such a big investment.
Many fans and critics pointed to the expensive signing of Antony—and the fact he was one of several players brought in from Ten Hag’s former club Ajax—as a key problem during Ten Hag’s time in charge, and even after he left.
But Ten Hag revealed that Antony’s signing was actually triggered by a request from Sancho that surprised him.
Sancho, who mostly played on the right wing at his old club Borussia Dortmund, told Ten Hag he wanted to play on the left wing instead. This led Ten Hag to rethink his plans.
“We had a problem because Sancho said he didn’t want to play on the right side, which was strange since he often played there before,” Ten Hag explained. “He said he felt more comfortable on the left. That was an issue, and it came late.”
Ten Hag also added, “When signing players, I look at what the team needs for the game, not on feelings about liking a player or where they came from. I try to be very professional.”
Sancho started 21 Premier League games in Ten Hag’s first season but only made three substitute appearances in 2023/24 before being frozen out of the squad. During that time, Antony was preferred on the right wing, and Marcus Rashford was playing on the left.
In fact, Rashford made 35 starts in all competitions in 2023/24, and young player Alejandro Garnacho also got chances in the first team. So even if Sancho had stayed, he probably wouldn’t have had many opportunities in his favorite position.
Sancho then joined Chelsea on a season-long loan, making 41 appearances and starting 26 times.
Since his five-year contract ended in June, Sancho has been a free agent. He’s been training with non-league club Flixton FC in Greater Manchester to stay fit, and recently got a contract offer from Spanish club Getafe.
Getafe’s president, Angel Torres, told Spanish radio, “I’ve been working on this for four months. He’s a free agent now, and we’ve made him a final offer. He’s played for Manchester United and Aston Villa before, so it’s not like he’s new. I know he has offers from Qatar and others. We just need to be patient and let him decide.”