Manchester United star told Erik ten Hag ‘they had bought the wrong player’ during row

Jadon Sancho told Erik ten Hag that Manchester United ‘had bought the wrong player’ during a dispute over his position in the team.

Sancho joined United in a £73 million deal from Borussia Dortmund in July 2021 but endured a chaotic debut campaign at Old Trafford in which Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked just four months after his arrival, while the team limped to a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League under interim manager Ralf Rangnick.

The 24-year-old has been frozen out of United’s first team since September after he publicly hit out at Ten Hag, who had criticised his effort levels in a training session before the defeat to Arsenal.

Sancho has refused to apologise to Ten Hag and was subsequently sent on loan to Borussia Dortmund in January. United are now open to selling the winger this summer and are aiming to secure a £40m transfer fee.

However, tension between Sancho and Ten Hag had been brewing before their well-documented bust-up this season.

For the start of Ten Hag’s first campaign, Sancho was played on the right wing as United were beaten at home by Brighton before they lost 4-0 away to Brentford.

According to The Athletic, it was after the defeat to Brentford that Sancho told Ten Hag that United had ‘bought the wrong player’ as his preference was to play on the left.

The report adds that Sancho’s reluctance to play for United on the right wing then ‘guided’ Ten Hag’s call for the club to sign Antony from Ajax for £86m.

The report also claims that earlier this season, Ten Hag also reprimanded Sancho after the winger appeared to ignore his assistant Mitchell van der Gaag during a training session.

During the training session Ten Hag was referring to after United’s defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, Sancho is said to have walked off the pitch after the Dutchman criticised him for failing to press an opponent during a practice match.

Dortmund, meanwhile, have made it clear that they are keen to keep Sancho on a permanent deal but they must negotiate a transfer fee with United as an option to buy was not included as part of their loan agreement.

This season’s Champions League finalists also want to keep Ian Maatsen following his loan spell from Chelsea but are reluctant to trigger the Netherlands international’s £35m release clause.

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