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Jadon Sancho has had an underwhelming season for Manchester United.
He has shown glimpses of his ability but has yet to perform consistently.
Sancho is United’s most talented forward. He is more technically gifted than the likes of Marcus Rashford and Antony and possesses a variety of skills in his arsenal.
He is unique in the sense that he is United’s only creative winger.
The Englishman has had a difficult time adapting to the Premier League. It would always be challenging coming from Borussia Dortmund with a high price tag.
Moreover, many times, Sancho has been unfairly criticised and asked to play in a way that is unnatural to him.
One must realise that every player’s strengths and weaknesses are relative to the system he plays in. The manager and his tactics greatly influence how well a player can perform.
Sancho will not make darting runs in behind or beat his defender for pure pace. He will come short and use his intelligence to create opportunities by manipulating the ball.
He is a creative winger best suited to a more possession-based system.
It is no surprise that his best performances for United last season have come in games where the team has control of the ball.
Unfortunately for him, it seems like United are moving towards being a more counter-attacking team.
Stylistically, he might be different from the profile of the attacker that Ten Hag prefers.
This is evident when Sancho is the first player to come off in most games.
However, the 23 year old can be blamed for going missing in important matches. Despite the team not playing to his strengths, Sancho has enough quality to stand out.
His Sofascore stats show how passive he has been in most games.
Comparing him to a player of a similar profile – Jack Grealish, Sancho falls short in almost every metric.
Grealish has created 12 big chances, double that of Sancho.
Sancho must show more fight and tweak his game to survive in the Premier League.
The following season could be ‘make or break’ for his career at Man United.
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