Erik ten Hag’s interesting response when asked if he still wants Jadon Sancho to apologise for Man Utd return

Jadon Sancho is in the semi-final of the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund, which has expectedly led to questioning over Erik ten Hag’s decision to loan him in January.

The 24-year-old winger departed United on a six-month loan at the start of the year after being exiled from Ten Hag’s squad from September onwards.

Sancho refused to apologise to the manager after he released a statement on social media suggesting that Ten Hag was a liar and that he was being made a scapegoat.

Other players, such as Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford, have had disciplinary issues at Old Trafford under the Dutchman. However, the lack of apology from Sancho was described as the main reason Ten Hag did not reintroduce him to action.

Now, the winger is excelling in Germany and received the Man of the Man in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against PSG; it appears a change in stance from Ten Hag has come.

What Ten Hag said about Sancho

“We are close in that process,” the United manager explained when asked about Sancho’s form. We are visiting games.

“Not only [Wednesday] – [I] will not say all the games, but we have seen more games from Dortmund where Jadon was performing. We had a visit with him, we talked with him, and we will keep going with this process.”

According to the Guardian, John Murtough, the former football director at United, and Matt Hargreaves, the director of player negotiations, were the club representatives who travelled to Dortmund for discussions with the 24-year-old.

Ten Hag was then asked about whether he still believes Sancho must provide an apology in order to return. He responded: “There was a conflict and let’s finish the season first. So stay away from this issue now – it is not important.

“He has the return [leg] of the semi-final, in the league it is not going that well for them. We have four important games in the league and the FA Cup final and then we will see.”

A change in view?

Interestingly, the apology does not seem as important as before for the United manager.

“He knows what he has to do if he wants to return. It is up to him,” said Ten Hag previously about the winger.

Now, the manager at least believes that discussing a potential apology is not important and has praised Sancho’s form.

Sancho reportedly wants a permanent move away from Old Trafford, but seeing the 24-year-old return to the club would not be the strangest thing we’ve seen in football.