Ralf Rangnick was pretty open when discussing Jadon Sancho’s struggles since his summer move to Manchester United.
Sancho looked highly promising at his previous club Borussia Dortmund, where he made a name for himself in the Bundesliga as a teenager, but life in the Premier League has been more difficult.
I wouldn’t prematurely call the English winger a flop like you might see from other media outlets, and Rangnick spoke encouragingly about his application in training. Now it’s about transferring that form to competitive matches.
As quoted by BBC Sport, Rangnick told reporters: “It’s more pressure. He also played for one of the biggest clubs in Germany, in Dortmund, but I think in total, the whole league, the whole competition is more physical and the level of expectation is higher.
“I think it’s also got to do with a lot of different things in his head. Whenever I see him train, he’s showing that he’s one of the best payers in the training sessions.
“But now it’s about the transfer to when he’s playing and showing the same kind of level and performance on the pitch.”
After costing United a whopping £73 million in the summer, Sancho has yet to live up to the billing. James Ducker of The Telegraph believes Rangnick must find a way to resolve his winger’s confidence issue.
We were all hoping for a big 2022 from the England international but he will need to do a lot better than he did off the bench against Aston Villa on Saturday. United drew the game 2-2 after holding a two-goal advantage at one stage.
It wasn’t Sancho’s fault that United threw away a two-goal cushion we performed abysmally in that second-half.
Sancho missed the previous two games through injury, so he could be excuse for easing himself back in. I guess we’ll see tonight if he is in the squad to take on Brentford.
