What was supposed to be a note of thanks could easily be taken as an insult to the club that pays his wages. “Grateful for the experience. Big love to everyone at Chelsea who made me feel at home – teammates, staff and the fans. Wishing the club all the best moving forward. Truly grateful, thank you, Blues.”
So said Jadon Sancho after another loan period ended in a dead end. That Chelsea paid £5m not to push the button on the £25m purchase arrangement with Manchester United ought to be smelling salts to Sancho.
At 25, he is old enough and big enough to accept responsibility for the mess he is in, to look inward rather than blame others for his plight. If not, his career will continue along the same negative trajectory until he is back playing cage football in Camberwell.
The breakdown under Erik ten Hag at United was attributed to a failure to hit the mark in training. Sancho pushed back, claiming Ten Hag had made him the scapegoat for the team’s decline and that his treatment was unjust.
There might be something in that, but across the breadth of his United experience, which included a loan spell back at Borussia Dortmund as well as Chelsea, he has not done enough to convince any that he is worth the £73m investment United made four years ago.
WROCLAW, POLAND - MAY 28: Jadon Sancho of Chelsea celebrates with the UEFA Conference League trophy after his team's victory in the UEFA Conference League Final 2025 between Real Betis Balompie and Chelsea FC at Stadion Wroclaw on May 28, 2025 in Wroclaw, Poland. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Sancho did not do enough to convince Chelsea to buy him (Photo: Getty)
It is worth remembering Sancho was an established member of the England team when he arrived at Old Trafford, having gained 23 caps in a three-year period from 2018.
Sancho might want to reflect on that as England prepare for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Andorra. His last appearance for the national side came four years ago in the same fixture, starting on the left and providing two assists in a 5-0 win.
Life at United was already unravelling. Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was gone a month after the Andorra game and the season ended catastrophically with five defeats in eight matches under caretaker Ralf Rangnick.
Whilst United stabilised during Ten Hag’s first season, the arrival of Antony and the deployment of Marcus Rashford in Sancho’s favoured left-wing slot was problematic.
Sancho was no longer a guaranteed starter, which required of him the kind of adjustment he was not expecting when billed as the player to trigger United’s revival. For a period he struggled with his mental health.
Whilst Ten Hag appeared sympathetic the relationship would eventually break down irreparably, forcing Sancho initially back to Dortmund and then to Chelsea, where he signed off with a goal in the Conference League final.
Though it was an intervention that invoked the best of him, cutting in from the left to power Chelsea towards nirvana, it was not enough to convince Chelsea to part with £25m. So Sancho finds himself back at United with a year left on his contract and a conversation to be had with himself.
If he was good enough to persuade United to shell out £73m and England to select him, he has the necessary qualities to succeed, but as elite sport repeatedly reminds us, talent alone is never sufficient. It is time for Sancho to take some responsibility if he is ever to become the player we thought he was.
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He won’t get a club on the £300k-a-week United pay him. The market is telling him that, so his best option is to knuckle down under Ruben Amorim to bring about an unlikely transformation, or take a hit and rebuild elsewhere in a less demanding environment.
The success of former United players Scott McTominay and Romelu Lukaku at Napoli, Matteo Darmian and Henrikh Mkhitaryan at Inter Milan and Antony at Betis show there is life beyond the Premier League, but that requires financial sacrifice.
There is always Dortmund, of course, where towards the end of his loan spell he began to show signs of a revival, playing his part in the club’s run to the Champions League final against Real Madrid.
Juventus showed interest last summer but could not afford the commitment to pay half his salary, which Chelsea did.
Ultimately there is peace to be had, but only if he accepts the key to his salvation lies within. Over to you, Jadon.