Jadon Sancho's talent and potential means he can still claim the Ballon d'Or claims his former Borussia Dortmund coach, despite the struggles he's faced since joining Manchester United
Jadon Sancho's former boss believes he can still reach the top
Jadon Sancho's former boss believes he can still reach the top
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Jadon Sancho's former boss Edin Terzic believes he "can still win the Ballon d'Or" having worked with the Manchester United flop during his time at Borussia Dortmund.
Sancho left the German side to move to Old Trafford in 2021 for £72million following several impressive years in the Bundesliga. He was regularly contributing with goals and assists, but they dried up once he arrived in Manchester and he's failed to deliver on his hefty fee.
His demise and well publicised clash with Erik ten Hag saw him frozen out before he was loaned back to Dortmund for six months in 2024. There he helped the Germans reach the Champions League final, shocking the likes of PSG, with Terzic masterminding his return to form.
The out-of-work coach has managed the likes of Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham and Sancho and insists all are capable of claiming the game's top individual prize. Sancho is currently on loan at Aston Villa but Terzic insists he has the talent to claim the Golden Ball.
He told the Telegraph: “All those players can win the Ballon d’Or in the future. Even Jadon. From the talent point of view, if you talk about Jadon then maybe five years ago you would talk about Ousmane Dembélé (who won the iy this year with PSG but also had discipline issues] in the same way.
"I am talking about the talent and potential. The difference is Erling will reach this level if he stays hungry: Jadon will only reach this level if he keeps smiling – and Jude needs to do both."
One of the things that has marred Sancho is poor time keeping. His attitude has also been called out in the past and Terzic insists when he worked with the Englishman he tried to bring joy to his game whilst upping his professionalism. “On the pitch, I tried to reach the joy of the child in Jadon – off the pitch, the professional athlete in Jadon," he said.
Jadon Sancho's career endured a steep decline after joining Man Utd
Jadon Sancho's career endured a steep decline after joining Man Utd
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Sancho has by no means hit the ground running at Villa Park. He's yet to score following last season's spell at Chelsea, who ultimately paid a loan penalty so that they could back out of the purchase agreement they had with United.
The 25-year-old was once a regular in the England picture, playing in Euro 2020, where he infamously missed a penalty in the final. He fell out of favour under Gareth Southgate and hasn't been anywhere near a recall in recent years.
His attitude was called out by several United fans after he commented "freedom" on a social media post that showed Marcus Rashford heading for Barcelona. Villa have paid a loan fee to take Sancho for the year but he has entered the final year of his contract at Old Trafford, with United having the option to extend for a further 12 months.
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