13 January 2024 , 14:10
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Jadon Sancho has been accused of showing "red flags" long before he even joined Manchester United after his Old Trafford nightmare came to a temporary end.
The England international joined the Red Devils in the summer of 2021 from Borussia Dortmund for a fee of £73million, but less than three years later Sancho finds himself back at the Bundesliga club on loan having fallen out with United boss Erik ten Hag in spectacular fashion.
Ten Hag publicly revealed that Sancho's performances in training left plenty to be desired back in September, which in turn inspired a response from the player. The 23-year-old took to social media to imply that his manager was lying and encouraging fans to not believe everything they read.
As a result, Sancho was exiled from the first-team fold after he refused to apologise. He was instructed to both train and eat away from the rest of his team-mates while at the club's Carrington training complex. That exile only ended earlier this week, when his return to Dortmund for the rest of the season was confirmed.
In light of his loan, former Premier League talent and academy coach Kieron Dyer has recalled his first encounter with a young, teenage Sancho and how he harboured some concerns over the player's mindset back then.
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"He [Sancho] was a wonderkid growing up. He was the talk of everybody in the academies at that time," Dyer told talkSPORT. "I was coaching and when I watched Man City he was unstoppable. It was the youth team, so the under-18s and he was incredible. He was probably 17 years old and everyone wanted him, he could have his pick, he’d just dominate every team.
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Jadon Sancho is already back in training with Borussia Dortmund after his loan switch (Getty Images)
"They played Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup final and played against Reece James and Reece James got the better of him, which can happen to anyone, but he quit on his team in the Youth Cup final. He just mentally went and I kind of had a red flag against him then and thought that’s a bit weird.
"He’s got the world at his feet and alright, he’s had a bad game but he’s quit on his teammates. You could see the life had gone out of him, he’d stopped tracking back and sort of given up and was basically mentally gone."
Ten Hag has wished Sancho well ahead of his second spell at Dortmund, telling reporters: "I hope he's doing well, so I wish him the best of good luck. That's it. I hope he's doing well and he'll be a success."