“Sancho breaks discipline?”
The Borussia Dortmund player made a comment that seemed to snipe at Manchester United manager Eric Dier. In response, Van Gaal reacted with annoyance, as if he didn’t want to be associated with Sancho.
Sancho joined Dortmund from Manchester United in the winter transfer window. He returned to his parent club after a three-year absence. Sancho, who left Manchester United in a €85 million deal ahead of the 2021-22 season, is back in Germany as his form has stalled.
Sancho has been the bane of Manchester United’s existence. They were hoping for a long-term ace to back up their massive investment, but Sancho managed just three goals and three assists in 29 games in his first year at the club. He had scored up to 20 goals in a season at Dortmund, so there was some hope that he would improve with time to adjust.
Sancho didn’t make it to the end. Even last season, he only managed six goals and three assists in 26 games. He was so out of sync with the team during the season that Van Gaal had to take him out of the lineup and give him individual training sessions. This got him into trouble this season. Sancho became frustrated with the coach’s continued exclusion of him from the roster. Van Gaal criticized his stagnant form and lack of discipline.
One of them is a lack of discipline. Sancho was reportedly frequently late to work at Manchester United. He would oversleep after games and arrive late to training. In fact, Sancho’s problems with tardiness date back to his time at Dortmund, but they were exacerbated by his poor performances at United.
Sancho took it as an emotional decision. The feud didn’t go away, and Sancho headed home in the January transfer window. Dortmund gave him the number 10 shirt, which symbolizes an ace. Even though he was on a six-month loan with no outright transfer clause, they gave him the number 10 as if to reward him for his past performances.
Sancho has lived up to expectations. He came on as a 10th-minute substitute in the 17th round of the 2023-24 German Bundesliga against Darmstadt 98 on Thursday and recorded an assist. He assisted on Marco Reus’ goal and declared that Dortmund was the place for him.
Sancho’s performance was decent, albeit brief. He played 35 minutes on the day and touched the ball 29 times. Despite his lack of passes, he had a 60% success rate, but he made key passes (2) and created big chances (1), showing his ability to make the most of his few chances. His dribbling also looked more confident, with two attempts, both successful. It’s a good indication that Sancho has room to grow.
Sancho also revealed that he felt “at home”, which struck a nerve with Manchester United. “It feels good to be back on the pitch at Dortmund. I’ve been talking to Lois about getting back together and I’m happy to assist on the goal.” “My goal at Dortmund is to enjoy playing again. I’m happy to help the team again and I want to lead them to a top three finish and qualify for the UEFA Champions League.”
After watching Sancho’s performance, Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said, “I don’t know who said that, but Sancho is not a player with discipline problems. Sometimes he’s late, but I don’t know who’s making up stories about him being undisciplined,” he said.
Van Gaal has also been impressed with Sancho’s performance. In a pre-match interview with Sky Sports ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s 2023-24 English Premier League Round 21 home game on Friday, the question of Sancho came up. “If Sancho had apologized, would he have been allowed back into the squad, would things be different?” they asked, to which he replied “yes.
“We’ve talked about this in the past. Sancho knew what he was doing,” he said, “and I don’t want to go back to that point every time. I don’t want to go back to that point every time.” He put the microphone down.
Van Gaal wanted to win without Sancho, but it didn’t work out that way. At home to Tottenham, Rasmus Hojelun opened the scoring in a 2-2 draw after a good start. Goals from Hojelin and Marcus Rashford helped to alleviate some of the frustration in the attacking third, but it’s Ottietti who still has zero attacking points to show for his efforts in Sancho’s place.