Liverpool legend John Barnes ‘feels sorry’ for Man United star amid exit rumours

Liverpool legend john Barnes says that he ‘feels sorry’ for Manchester United winger Jadon Sancho after a difficult Old Trafford career so far.

Sancho, 23, joined United from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2021 for a fee in the range of £73 million.

Since then, he has played under four different managers and struggled to excel in the same way he did in Germany.

There are arguments that his fall-off has been both the fault of the player and club. Coming into the club in what would be Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s final season as manager was not an ideal situation and the squad were not set up in a possession-based manner, which is what Sancho thrived in at Dortmund.

However, we saw last season that Erik ten Hag shown patience with the winger and allowed him time off midseason to maximise his mental and physical wellbeing but upon his return, Sancho remained inconsistent.

There have been various reports which have suggested Sancho could move away from the club this summer, with the latest coming from The Telegraph, who stated that the wide man is one player that United are considering selling in the coming months.

John Barnes, who spent 10 years at Liverpool between 1987 and 1997, has shown support for the England international and believes that the big fee on his head is one of the main reasons behind his difficulties.

“It’s difficult because he went for a big fee to a big club and it hasn’t worked in the first two years for him,” he told BonusCodeBets. “Especially as he’s a young player. It doesn’t matter how good you’ve been before.

“If he starts and plays well for one or two games but then has a bad game people will only remember the bad game because of what’s happened in the past.

“It’s always better to start off well at a club because if you fall away slightly you’ve already created a relationship with the fans where they trust and love you. They’ll be willing to give him more time.

“Now with United looking to improve they will be looking to add to their squad in the attacking areas which could push Sancho further down the pecking order in the squad.”

The former midfielder added that Cristiano Ronaldo’s re-entry to the club in the same summer as Sancho limited what the winger could display and believes that he should remain at Old Trafford in the hope for his fortunes to turn around.

“I feel sorry for him because he’s a good player and Ronaldo took over the club which stopped players like Sancho showing what they can do.”

‘I would like for Sancho to stay at United to prove people wrong because he’s still a young player and he’s got a lot of experience to gain.”