Jose Mourinho has offered his insights into why Jadon Sancho has struggled at Manchester United. United spent £73 million to sign Sancho from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2021, but the Englishman has found it challenging to perform as a Red Devil. Following a public dispute with manager Erik ten Hag, Sancho was loaned back to Dortmund during the January transfer window.
Ahead of the Champions League final, former United boss Mourinho discussed the reasons behind Sancho’s difficulties. Speaking on TNT Sport, he said: “As a player, we know his talent. We saw what he can do; there are no doubts about it. What happened at United? I look at my own history; sometimes I failed with players. Sometimes I couldn’t create the right empathy, couldn’t understand the player’s DNA, couldn’t help the players to work in the right direction.
“The majority of the time, yes, I did it, but on some occasions, I couldn’t. I think sometimes we have to learn from these experiences, which I always tried to do—to understand the nature of the player. Sometimes they have the talent, but they don’t have the mindset you want from the player. For sure, the kid made mistakes, but for sure also the manager was not able to get the best out of him. Of course, he failed [at United] because he wasn’t playing.”
Mourinho continued: “Normally, it’s multi-factorial, not just the manager and the player. The family, the agent, the club. Looking at myself as a coach, many times I did get the best out of players and helped them become what they were in the future. In a couple of instances, I failed. As coaches with more experience and many déjà vu situations as we get older, we try to help players go in the right direction. In this case, they surely look at it and try to analyze what happened at United and what he found in Dortmund.”
Leave a Reply