“You had no problem with me?” wonders the old teacher.
Ralph Rangnick embraces his former pupil with meaningful words.
“Former Manchester United manager Ralph Rangnick insists that Jadon Sancho was a trouble-free player when he coached him,” British soccer outlet Tribune reported on Wednesday. “He was a quiet, pleasant player,” Rangnick said.
Sancho joined United from Borussia Dortmund ahead of the 2021-22 season. Sancho was at his best at Dortmund at the time. He took the Bundesliga by storm with his excellent dribbling and link-up play. In 137 appearances for Dortmund, he scored 50 goals and provided 64 assists.
Sancho joined United on the strength of these performances. At the time, United spent a whopping €85 million to sign him, so they had high hopes for him.
However, Sancho has struggled since joining United, scoring just 12 goals and providing six assists in 82 appearances. There was no sign of his Dortmund form. What’s more, this season was a disaster. Coach Eric ten Hagh left Sancho out of his roster for the Premier League match against Arsenal last September. He cited Sancho’s lack of discipline as the reason for his exclusion.
Sancho took to social media to express his frustration, but the local media sided with Ten Hagh. In the end, Sancho refused to apologize to Ten Hagh, and Ten Hagh ignored him for the rest of the season. As a result, Sancho has only started three games this season.
He recently left United on loan to his hometown club Dortmund. After being ignored by Van Gaal, he returned to his parent club to play.
This led United fans to criticize Sancho, but Rangnick, who worked closely with him, had a different opinion. Rangnick was the favorite to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was sacked midway through the 2021-22 season. At the time, Rangnick considered Sancho to be one of United’s best players. “Sancho did very well under me,” Rangnick recalls. He didn’t give me any problems,” Rangnick recalled, and defended his former pupil.