Erik ten Hag used his ‘last chance’ to get the best out of Jadon Sancho, says Rio Ferdinand as he questions whether the Manchester United manager understood the ‘risk’ in publicly criticising the unruly talent
- Rio Ferdinand has questioned Manchester United’s handling of Jadon Sancho
- The Englishman was publicly criticized by Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag
- Sancho stressed in a social media post that he was being made a ‘scapegoat’
- Listen to the latest episode of the Mail Sport podcast It all starts!
Rio Ferdinand has spoken out about Jadon Sancho’s situation at Manchester United and believes Erik ten Hag publicly berated the underperforming winger because he felt it was his ‘last chance’ to get a positive response from the star.
United manager Ten Hag criticized Sancho for not meeting the required standard in training as he explained the decision to omit the 23-year-old from his matchday squad in a recent Premier League defeat to Arsenal.
The players responded by labeling themselves as ‘scapegoats’ in a social media post that has now been deleted. Sancho has subsequently been ruled out of first-team training as the club discusses next steps to rectify the broken relationship.
Ferdinand is said to have seen his fair share of player-manager bust-ups during his 12-year career at Old Trafford, but wondered whether Ten Hag understood the risk in making his criticism public.
‘Is it something personal between the manager and the player? Or is he really not training the way he wants him to train? Jadon would say and agree that he has not yet lived up to the hype and the fee,” Ferdinand said on his Five YouTube channel.
Rio Ferdinand has questioned Manchester United’s disciplinary treatment of Jadon Sancho
United boss Erik ten Hag (left) publicly criticized Sancho (right) for his performance level in training
“The manager has said, ‘This is my last chance’, I can’t get anything else out of him, so I’ll make it public and see if that public shame and his pride is put under enough pressure and he comes back with a performance.
‘He did it to Rashford. He was the talisman at the time, he was on fire, he was at the top of his game… in terms of ego and pride and then even more pressure.
‘I think there are players who have asked questions publicly or subliminally. “I think it was a big decision for the manager to go public with Jadon and did the manager understand the risk with that?,” he added.
Mail Sport previously revealed that there have been repeated problems with Sancho’s timekeeping and regular lateness to training at the club.
Ten Hag (left) and Sancho (right) have so far failed to resolve their differences
Ferdinand (photo) believes that Ten Hag has used his ‘last chance’ to get the best out of Sancho
The England staff also previously noted similar issues with the former Borussia Dortmund player and were concerned about his reaction to his departure from the national team’s starting XI.
Sancho has cut a modest figure since the incident but was photographed as a spectator this weekend as he attended one of United’s academy matches as the senior team were beaten 3-1 by Brighton at Old Trafford.
He has been named in United’s 25-man Champions League squad ahead of the European cup competition which starts on Tuesday, but is not expected to be included in the matchday squad for Wednesday’s clash with Bayern Munich.
Ten Hag is expected to answer further questions about the player’s future at the club during his pre-match press conference on Thursday.
