Kieron Dyer asserts that Jadon Sancho showed a ‘red flag’ well before his confrontation with Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.
Sancho faced exclusion from the first team in September due to a disagreement with Ten Hag regarding his commitment in training.
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The £73million signing from Borussia Dortmund was instructed to train separately from the first-team squad as the impasse with Ten Hag showed no signs of swift resolution.
Recent reports indicate that United had concerns about Sancho’s punctuality. Dyer, with over 220 Premier League appearances in his playing career, suggests that the United winger displayed signs of ‘quitting on his own teammates’ when he struggled against Reece James in Manchester City’s defeat to Chelsea during the FA Youth Cup final in 2017.
‘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.
‘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.’
Dyer, however, has backed Sancho’s decision to join Dortmund as he may find Ten Hag has been replaced by the time he returns to Old Trafford in the summer.
‘You’ve seen the problems since at Manchester United and I sort of sensed that as a 17 or 18-year-old kid and it’s sad because he’s got some talent and some ability,’ Dyer said.
‘I think it’s a good move because if he does do well in Germany then there’s a good chance that when he comes back to Manchester there’s going to be a new manager, which could definitely happen the way that Erik ten Hag and Man United are going.
‘It could work out well for him.’
