Jadon Sancho is reportedly expected to leave Manchester United in January with the winger’s career at the club considered to be ’90 per cent over’.
Sancho has been training on his own at the academy facilities since the beginning of October after he was exiled by Erik ten Hag for publicly branding the United manager a liar over his reasons for dropping him for the 3-1 away defeat by Arsenal.
The 23-year-old winger continues to work alone at Carrington where he is forbidden to mix or eat with his team-mates.
It is understood that the player can come in from the cold if he says sorry to Ten Hag, but only if the apology is sincere.
So far Sancho has refused to give his manager the apology he wants, and is showing no signs of backing down despite the appeals from senior figures at the club and his own team-mates.
Manchester United reportedly believe Jadon Sancho must leave the club in January
Sancho remains banished from the first team squad amid a dispute with manager Erik ten Hag
According to a report from Fabrizio Romano, Manchester United officials believe Sancho has to find a new club in January.
The club are reportedly aware that a permanent deal is unlikely to be struck in January for the winger, who cost the club £73m in the summer of 2021, with a loan deal considered a more likely prospect.
‘I think they [United] know at the moment that it’s not going to be a permanent transfer, that could be a loan deal with a buy option included,’ Romano said on his Daily Briefing podcast.
‘So, I think in January that they will be open to any opportunity of course.
‘Of course, they would prefer a permanent transfer, that would be perfect to have their money back after what they spent on Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund.
‘At the moment, the people from Manchester United is very clear, it looks like it’s 90 per cent over between Jadon Sancho and Man United.
‘We keep a 10 per cent because we know that anything can happen in football, but as of today, it reminds us of the situation with Cristiano Ronaldo one year ago.
‘The feeling is that Jadon has to find a new club in the January transfer window.’
Sancho is forbidden from mixing or even eating with team-mates at United’s training ground
Manchester United were prepared to accept £45m for Sancho in the summer.
United are prepared to take a significant loss on Sancho, if it means supporting Ten Hag who was brought in to improve discipline which had lapsed under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick.
After six-and-a-half weeks training on his own, there is a growing feeling that even if he were to apologise now, Ten Hag would see it as empty and unacceptable.
One of the core tenets of Ten Hag’s Old Trafford reign has been firm authority and he did not shy away from banishing Cristiano Ronaldo after he refused to come on against Tottenham and left the stadium early in October 2022.
Sancho’s absence from the first team followed his outburst on social media, after he was dropped from the squad against Arsenal in September.
He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘I have conducted myself in training very well this week’ and ‘I’ve been a scapegoat for a long time which isn’t fair!’