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Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has blamed Erik ten Hag for the standoff with Jadon Sancho, although he acknowledged the English forward made mistakes of his own.
Sancho and Ten Hag fell out in early September last year, with their dispute playing out in public.
The current United boss told reporters that Sancho was dropped from the matchday squad that made its way to the Emirates to take on Arsenal due to his poor performances in training.
In response, Sancho issued a strongly-worded statement on social media essentially accusing the Dutchman of being a liar and using him as a scapegoat for the team’s on-the-pitch struggles.
Club heads made efforts to repair the duo’s relationship but nothing worked. Ten Hag and Sancho were unable to amicably fix their issues and so a decision was made to send the 24-year-old out on loan to Borussia Dortmund during the winter transfer window.
At Signal Iduna Park, Sancho has found some of the form that convinced United to spend big to secure his services back in 2021.
He played a crucial role for Dortmund in their journey to the Champions League final, particularly excelling in both legs of the semi-final tie against Paris Saint-Germain.
Mourinho spoke on TNT Sports hours before Dortmund’s clash against Real Madrid at Wembley and weighed in on the heated situation between the forward and Ten Hag.
The Portuguese coach said, “As a player, we know his talent. We saw what he can do, there are no doubts about it.”
“What happened at Man United…if I look to my own history, sometimes I failed with players. Sometimes I couldn’t create the right empathy, I couldn’t understand the player’s DNA and I couldn’t help players grow up in the right direction. The majority of times, yes, I did it but in some occasions I couldn’t.”
“I think sometimes we have to learn with experiences, which I tried always to do, to try to understand the nature of the player. Sometimes they have the talent but don’t have the mindset you want from a player.”
“For sure, the kid [Sancho] made mistakes, that’s for sure, but for sure his manager was not able to get the best out of him.”
When asked whether Sancho was failed by United, Mourinho replied, “Normally, it’s multi-factorial. Normally, it’s not the manager, the player, the family, the agent, the club.”
“But looking at myself as a coach, I did many times get the best out of young players and helped them to be what they were in the future. Other times I failed. For sure, even if it’s multi-factorial, we are part of it. For us coaches with more experiences and many situations of deja vu, as we get older, we try to help the players in the right direction.”
“The kid made mistakes… but his manager wasn’t able to get the best out of him”
Jose Mourinho discusses the past couple of years for Jadon Sancho 👀#UCLfinal | @laura_woodsy | @rioferdy5 pic.twitter.com/r7YoRvl6oq
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) June 1, 2024
Mourinho urged all parties to analyse what happened at United and why Sancho seems to be doing far better in Germany instead.
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