Jadon Sancho was dropped from Manchester United’s starting lineup to face Everton in the Premier League. The England International is yet to hit his best form since joining Manchester United from Borussia Dortmund.
Sancho had started each of Manchester United’s previous Premier League games scoring two goals in the process. After failing to impress against Manchester City and Omonia Nicosia in the Europe League, Erik Ten Hag opted for a front three of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, and Antony against Everton.
The 22 year was an unused substitute in the Manchester United 2-1 win over Everton. With an injury to Martial Martial, Erik Ten Hag decided to bring on Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, Rio Ferdinand believes Jadon Sancho had to go back to the basics and improve his goal-scoring and assists numbers.
What did Rio Ferdinand say?
Rio Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel Vibe with Five: “I haven’t seen [his Bundesliga form] yet. That’s the concerning thing for me.
“If I’m Jadon Sancho, or in Jadon Sancho’s camp, I am looking at ways in which I can unpick his game, his mind, to unearth the Sancho that made him a coveted talent around Europe.
“His numbers in Germany were great, he was doing marvelous things over there, but it hasn’t transferred over to the Premier League yet.
“And I don’t know why. What is the reason why? Is it because of the way the team is set up? Is it because of the pace of the Premier League?
“Is he getting asked to do more defensively so then he hasn’t got the energy when they’ve got [the ball] in transition?
“His assists and goal record isn’t great when you compare it to other players in his position.
“So you allow him that time to adapt to this league – he’s had a season of that – and after pre-season, I was thinking, “Okay, yeah, this looks like we’ve got the Sancho we’ve bought from Dortmund”.”
On his goal-scoring abilities, Rio Ferdinand said: “I think he’s shown this season he can score goals, he scored against Liverpool and Leicester.
“Sometimes when you’re looking for a bit of form and you’re not playing – he’s worked hard, don’t get me wrong – but a player like Jadon wants to get on the ball, wants to showboat, show his skills, drop people, Instagram little reels.
“He hasn’t really got a reel yet in terms of skills and moving people and stuff and going by people. But if he could get his stats up a bit, it almost negates the argument that we’re talking about here.
“If he gets the goals and gets the assists and affects the game in that area, and if he can get himself between the posts more often than not, when he’s in there he’s shown already he’s a calm finisher. He’s a cool, calm, and collected finisher.
“But I just want to see the Sancho that I was going crazy about and demanding that he come on during the Euros because I haven’t seen that.”
