Mourinho Blames Ten Hag for Sancho’s Failed Manchester United Stint

Jose Mourinho has attributed Jadon Sancho’s struggles at Manchester United to manager Erik Ten Hag’s inability to harness the player’s potential. After a difficult spell at United, Sancho’s career has been revitalized with a loan return to Borussia Dortmund, where he has shown flashes of his old form.

Sancho’s time at United was marred by public clashes with Ten Hag. The manager criticized Sancho’s training attitude, leading to the winger being exiled from the first team after he hit back on social media and refused to apologize. Despite the increasing likelihood of Ten Hag’s departure from Old Trafford, it seems Sancho has no intention of returning to Manchester United.

Mourinho, speaking during the Champions League final broadcast, stressed that Ten Hag must take responsibility for mishandling Sancho. “As a player we know his talent,” Mourinho stated. “For sure the kid made mistakes. But for sure also his manager was not able to get the best out of him. I think in this case for sure they [Manchester United] look at it and try to analyze what happened at Man United and what he found at Dortmund.”

Mourinho acknowledged that sometimes a manager and a player simply do not click, drawing on his own experiences. “If I look to my own history sometimes I failed with players, I couldn’t create the right empathy and I couldn’t understand the player’s DNA, I couldn’t help players to grow in the right direction,” he admitted. “The majority of the times I did but on some occasions I couldn’t. I tried to understand the nature of the player and they have the talent but sometimes not the mindset that you want.”

He emphasized that such situations are often complex and involve multiple factors. “Normally it is not multi-factorial. Normally it is the manager, the player, the family, the agent, the club. Looking at myself as a coach I did many times get the best out of young players and help them to be what they were in the future. Other times I failed. Even being multi-factorial we are part of it and as coaches with more experience we manage situations of deja vu when we get older and try to help the player to go in the right direction.”

Sancho’s departure from Manchester United and his resurgence at Dortmund highlight the intricate dynamics between player management and performance, with Mourinho’s comments shedding light on the challenges faced by both players and managers in the high-stakes world of football.