“It did feel significant”: top Man United reporters shocked by Jadon Sancho’s omission vs Fulham | OneFootball

The Athletic’s Laurie Whitwell and Andy Mitten have been discussing Jadon Sancho’s omission from Manchester United’s matchday squad against Fulham yesterday.

After the game, manager Erik ten Hag was asked why the England man was not in the squad and said that he had an ear infection, but made the point he could have played.

He said he preferred Antony on this occasion.

Given the history between Ten Hag and Sancho, a stand-off that resulted in the player being loaned out to Borussia Dortmund for the second half of last season, the decision raised a few eyebrows.

The pair had been said to have buried the hatchet and Sancho featured strongly in Ten Hag’s pre-season team selections.

“How’s that going to resolve itself?”, Whitwell said after the game in the Talk of the Devils podcast.

“Is there going to be a lingering issue there? Or is it going to be a case of a transfer might be in the offing so let’s not get injured? It didn’t seem that from what Ten Hag was saying. It seemed just a call.

“Let’s see what happens in the final two weeks of the window because clearly he’s a player that Manchester United would be open to selling.

“PSG and Chelsea have been mentioned but I don’t know if any firm offers have been made.

“It was an interesting call because he did start on the pre-season tour and Andy [Mitten] thought he was going to start in this game …

“He came off the bench at Wembley, Antony didn’t…

“Someone’s got to miss out but it did feel significant it was Sancho tonight.”

Mitten agreed:

“It was curious, it was odd,” he said.

“I thought he would feature because I know the coaching staff were satisfied with him pre-season. Not delighted, but satisfied with him, and I wouldn’t say that about all of the players.

“It was felt he was someone who’d done all right.”

It will be interesting to see if Sancho features against Brighton in United’s next game on Saturday and whether anything else emerges in regard to yesterday’s surprising decision.

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