Jadon Sancho has appeared to aim a dig at his former Manchester United managers after he finally scored his first goal for Aston Villa this week.
Jadon Sancho sealed a third straight loan departure from Manchester United in the summer window, completing a move to Aston Villa for the 2025/26 season.
Having previously spent time on loan at Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea, Sancho turned down several permanent offers from Italian clubs, instead choosing another temporary switch.
Before agreeing to the Villa Park move, he sought advice from Marcus Rashford, who had played under Unai Emery during a loan spell in the latter half of last season.
A return to Old Trafford was never on the cards, with Ruben Amorim making it clear that Sancho did not feature in his long-term plans.
Sancho has made 19 appearances so far this season but just eight of those have come from the start. After scoring the winner against Fenerbahçe on Thursday, he will be hoping for more starts going forward.
Sancho aims dig at ex-United managers
Everyone knows about Sancho’s struggles at Old Trafford and he will finally be departing the club permanently in the summer when his contract expires.
While supporters of the club were majorly disappointed by his work ethic and quality, Sancho would probably argue that the managers at United, particularly Erik ten Hag, did not help him enough.
That appears to be his argument at least, with the United loanee explaining how he appreciates the fact that Unai Emery ‘believes’ in him as a player.
“He just keeps on telling me to be positive every time I play,” Sancho told TNT Sports about Emery after he scored his first goal for Villa.
“It’s nice to have a manager who backs you and obviously believes in you. Again, every opportunity I get, I’m going to try and do 100 per cent, and hopefully I can deliver more goals.”
Sancho still feels he was unfairly treated
Sancho’s career at Old Trafford broke down under Ten Hag but it is easy to forget how lenient the Dutchman was with the player at first.
The winger was given several months off to deal with his physical and mental health, and was welcomed back at Old Trafford by Ten Hag and the fans.
It was only after that when the problems seemed to emerge, and it seems like Sancho still feels like he was unfairly treated.
This is certainly going to be an interesting topic for Sancho to discuss in a book or podcast appearance once his career is finished, but in the meantime he will be hoping to move on from United and reignite his career.
Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is streamed live every Thursday at 14:00 pm (GMT) on the United View YouTube channel.