Jadon Sancho will train away from the rest of United’s first-team squad as he tries to heal his rift with Erik ten Hag.
Sancho landed himself in trouble with Ten Hag by effectively branding his manager a liar for saying that he was left out of the squad to face Arsenal because he had not train well. The 23-year-old winger further inflamed the situation by claiming to be a scapegoat under the Dutch manager.
Sancho and Ten Hag held talks on Monday and the player took down the offending post two days later, which was seen as a positive step. Football director John Murtough has also been working hard to broker a peace deal between the pair with the support of chief executive Richard Arnold.
However, the fall-out hasn’t been sufficiently resolved for Ten Hag to forgive Sancho. As a result, United issued a statement on Thursday saying that the player has been excluded from first-team training.
It read: ‘Jadon Sancho will remain on a personal training programme away from the first-team group pending resolution of a squad discipline issue.’
This is the second time Sancho has been made to train on his own by Ten Hag after he worked alone for eight weeks over the World Cup last winter to try and overcome physical and mental issues.
However, on that occasion Ten Hag took a more sympathetic approach and sent Sancho to train at Dutch amateur club OJC Rosmalen where he worked with coaches trusted by the United boss. He did not play for the club for more than three months.
This time, Ten Hag has taken a more hard-line approach and is clearly not ready to forgive and forget Sancho’s transgressions.
United almost sold him to Al-Ettifaq last week in a deal that would have seen the Saudi Arabian club take Sancho on loan until the end of the season before signing him on a permanent basis, but they could not afford the £50million transfer fee.
United were also prepared to listen to offers in the region of £45m this summer for Sancho who has had a disappointing career at Old Trafford since arriving from Borussia Dortmund in a £73m deal two years ago.
Sancho had turned up at Carrington looking glum as he entered the complex in his Mercedes wearing a hood to hide from cameras – preparing to get back to club duty and attempt to put his spat with Ten Hag behind him.
The began after Ten Hag’s blunt words when explaining why the player was not involved in the defeat to the Gunners.
‘Jadon, on his performances in training we did not select him,’ he said after the Arsenal loss.
‘You have to reach a level every day at Manchester United and we can make choices in the front line. So for this game he was not selected.’
Sancho immediately sought to clarify his comments, claiming they were ‘completely untrue’
‘Please don’t believe everything you read! I will not allow people saying things that is (sic) completely untrue, I have conducted myself in training very well this week.
‘I believe there are other reasons for this matter that I won’t go into, l’ve been a scapegoat for a long time which isn’t fair! ‘All I want to do is play football with a smile on my face and contribute to my team.
‘I respect all decisions that are made by the coaching staff, I play with fantastic players and (am) grateful to do so which I know every week is a challenge.
‘I will continue to fight for this badge no matter what!’
Sancho is yet to make a start for United this season and has played just three times as a substitute – featuring for a total of 77 minutes in the Premier League.