14 Sep 2023 06:20:43
Hi Ed002,

Do United plan to move on Jadon Sancho?
Amid uncertainty around Antony, who would you think United are targeting for RW position?

{Ed002's Note - Jadon Sancho (W) Borussia Dortmund will take the player back but will not pay more than half they sold him for. Newcastle may provide an option but have signed an alternative already. Spurs may provide an option. Perhaps a loan to buy in January.

I would not expect a permanent deal for a RW in January and expect the club to make do until then and perhaps look to a loan then. Next summer will be a better time to buy. They have shown interest in Antonio Nusa (LW/RW) but likely heading elsewhere and Nico Williams (RW). There will be others looked at.}

1.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 10:50:31
Sancho just hasn't worked out at all at United. It's a shame because he's a very talented player, but he seems to lack the mental fortitude needed to succeed at a club that has the kind of media attention that Manchester United gets.

Read a story this morning that he was apparently promised the No.7 shirt when Cavani would leave. But apparently got upset when it obviously went to Ronaldo when he rejoined the club instead. While he was further upset this summer when the shirt passed to Mason Mount instead of him.

Personally, given how he has struggled to live up to the expectations it's probably a good thing he never did get the No.7 shirt. While some people feel the shirt is a bit of a poison chalice with no one really living up to the expectations of it since Ronaldo left first time. Owen, Valencia, Di Maria, Depay and Sanchez all really disappointed in that shirt. While Cavani and Ronaldo himself didn't really hit the highs we wanted in the last few years, Cavani due to injuries and just not playing enough, Ronaldo just didn't work out second time around. Personally he did okay, but at the expense of the team, followed by a unsavoury exit.

Sancho would not have bucked that trend and would have drowned quicker than he has with the added expectations that the No.7 brings.

He needs to move on, the club will have to take a hit, but that's a recurring theme on pretty much every player signed during the Woodward era.

2.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 11:35:50
After MG was suspended in early 2022, Sancho really should have had the sense to make that RW role his own but he's always seemed to prefer the LW role where our best attacker plays.

Since then he's lost out to Elanga and Antony in that RW role when he is much more talented than both.

He only has himself to blame.

3.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 12:27:17
Shirt numbers 1-11 should be earned and not given as part of a buying tool. Sancho like Martial needs to move on over these pathetic excuses and realise the name on the front is more important than the one on the back.

4.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 12:38:05
I read that too Shappy about Sancho and the number 7 shirt, we have no idea if it’s true.

However, if it is, the young man is even more cabbage-brained than I first thought. If he thinks he’s fit to follow the greats who have wore the number 7 shirt for Manchester United, he’s delusional beyond words.

The number 7 shirt being a poisoned chalice is nonsense. Quite simply the club’s standards have dropped so far, we haven’t managed to produce a player of the quality to carry that number. Other than Bruno, who has posted fantastic numbers for us, or arguably Rashford if he has another good season and sorts out his sulky demeanour. Those are the only two. In recent years.

Sancho isn’t fit to lace even Tony Valencia’s boots, let alone Best, Robson, Cantona, Beckham or Ronaldo.

Hopefully we see the end to the Sancho and Antony sagas by Christmas, so the manager can focus on what’s happening on the pitch towards the business end of the season.

5.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 12:41:04
Maybe Fzzz but we have perspective of the real world where the number on your shirt makes absolutely no difference whatsoever. All these lads know is football and have been wrapped in cotton wool and so these things matter to them. Pathetic, but true.

6.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 12:43:41
With Antony away, Sancho could have had an opportunity to show that he has what it takes to succeed at United, which makes his response to Ten Hag's mild public rebuke potentially even more damaging.

I don't know about shirt #s but Ronaldo's second coming per se (allusions intended), rather than inspire seems to have been seen by the players as a lack of confidence in their ability to rise to the occasion. Did anyone become a better player for having Ronaldo in the team? United have had an uncanny knack of late of buying good players and making them worse, but Ronaldo's arrival seemed to spread the malaise throughout the existing squad.

Question is, if Sancho continues to fail to endear himself to ETH, how will his reportedly extremely high wages affect the price. Does anyone at BD make anywhere near what Sancho makes at United?

7.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 16:14:03
The biggest thing with this whole sancho saga is ultimately he’s nowhere near good enough and nowhere near professional enough! Simple!

8.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 16:35:03
Soon to appear in the Utd bargain bin like so many expensive flops in recent times. Utd have paid double the value for so many failures in the last decade.

9.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 17:06:04
Supposedly he was like this at Dortmund, too. Only our club would have signed him for that money without checking things like that first. Miki, Kagawa, Sancho. Dortmund must have had a right giggle at us over the last lot of years ?.

10.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 18:14:59
I thought Kagawa was decent NC. Won a league title in his preferred position and would’ve kicked on if Fergie had stayed.

11.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 18:47:31
Ironic that Sancho claimed he was a scapegoat at Dortmund as well, I fear he has cried wolf once too many times and has only himself to blame for his current situation.

I think he said in his social media post that he will continue to fight for the badge no matter what, he hasn't fort once for that badge in 2 years, why would he start now.

12.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 19:03:05
Kagawa doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Sancho. Kagawa came in at a time we had Darren Gibson in midfield. I sometimes felt Kagawa was a step ahead of his team mates in his thinking, and came in at a time when we were going through too much of a transition for him to settle.

13.) 14 Sep 2023
14 Sep 2023 19:14:47
I did like Kagawa. Just thought he was underwhelming compared to what I'd seen of him before. I much preferred Evil Kagawa ?.

14.) 15 Sep 2023
15 Sep 2023 10:53:04
kagawa was a disappointment. was signed with big hype but a bit time player at united. P step up was too much for him.

15.) 15 Sep 2023
15 Sep 2023 13:03:04
Ahmad, Kagawa was signed to replace Rooney at 10 which he did pretty well. Fergie was giving him a season to settle which he did very well winning a league title and making the game look simple in the process. Rooney would then be sold at the end of the season had Fergie stayed. Rooney was being bombed out.
Fergie had Thiago Alcantara ready to sign to replace Scholes.

Then Moyes came in and ruined literally every thing, and gave Rooney a 5 year contract and returned the number 10 position to him. Every multiple title winning player turned to rubbish so not just Kagawa. We signed Fellaini instead of Thiago ?.

16.) 17 Sep 2023
17 Sep 2023 11:29:47
Shappy, lacking mental fortitude = lazy and soft.

17.) 17 Sep 2023
17 Sep 2023 12:21:55
MancMan, Not quite, lacking mental fortitude is more a lack of resilience. Someone who has not been brought up in a way that enables them to deal well with external pressures.

That might be that they cannot handle criticism well, or struggle with how the world perceives them, or they cannot handle demands placed upon them.

This tends to stem from growing up in an environment where the person doesn't feel safe or cared for, or they are overly criticised leaving them feeling judged, undermining their self-esteem. Creating a fragile ego that perceives any sort of criticism as a personal attack often triggering the fight or flight response.

If you are a person who was lucky enough to have caring, engaged parents. Who brought you up to feel safe and secure in your environment, then from that perspective it might seem that the other person is "soft" or "lazy". However, that will often just come across as a personal attack to a person who struggles with handling such criticism because of their childhood.

If Sancho doesn't have the skills to handle the pressure that probably isn't his fault, as you develop those skills in early childhood (3-7 years old), with further reinforcement as you go through adolescence. If he wasn't given the tools or provided the environment needed to develop those skills at that age then I think its terribly unfair to blame him for not having learned those life skills.

Unfortunately it happens, far more now than it has ever happened in the past. Kids not given the care they need during their childhood to develop the life skills needed to navigate life successfully.

18.) 17 Sep 2023
17 Sep 2023 19:54:03
Wow Shappy, I wasn't expecting such a full and interesting reply but thanks.

Although you're right I was trying to suggest how his lack of mental fortitude manifests itself on the pitch in the form of laziness and softness.

He doesn't exactly but a gut and when did you ever see him make a tackle?

Crap player, almost as bad as Pogcrap.