Jadon Sancho makes subtle Man Utd dig after Marcus Rashford’s Aston Villa debut | OneFootball

Jadon Sancho appeared to take a dig at Manchester United as he commented “freedom” under Marcus Rashford’s Instagram post following his debut for Aston Villa on Sunday.

Rashford joined Villa on loan on deadline day after being frozen out by Ruben Amorim, and made his first appearance since early December as he came off the bench in the 2-1 FA Cup win over Tottenham.

Sancho endured a similar experience at United last season after being dropped by Erik ten Hag, before going out on loan to Borussia Dortmund for the second half of the season.

(The FA via Getty Images)

Sancho is now on loan at Chelsea, where he has impressed at times this season at a new environment under Enzo Maresca, and appeared to support Rashford as his former United team-mate returned to the pitch.

After Rashford posted a series of images from his Villa debut, along with the caption “thank you for the warm welcome, great team performance”, Sancho replied “freedom” with prayer and raised hands emojis.

Rashford looked bright in his brief cameo as he kicked off his bid to revive his career - as the 27-year-old aims to fire back at Amorim’s criticism of his attitude with improved performances on the pitch.

Rashford did not play for Amorim again after he was dropped by the Portuguese head coach for the Manchester derby in mid-December, after which Rashford revealed he was ready for a new challenge.

Amorim explained his reason for letting Rashford leave on loan, with Villa including a option to make the move permanent for just £40m this summer, by stating that he felt Rashford could not adapt to the way he wanted to play.

“I couldn’t put Marcus to see the way you’re supposed to play football and to train the way I see it,” Amorim said.

“And sometimes you have one player that is really good with one coach, and the same player with another coach is different.

“I just wish the best to Rashford and to Unai Emery, and they can connect because he’s a very good player.”