Jadon Sancho looks crestfallen while in Aston Villa action
Credit: Tung Manh Phan, Breaking Media
James Barker
Sat 30 May 2026 16:10, UK
Jadon Sancho posted some impressive underlying numbers last season, proving just how frustrating his campaign was with Aston Villa.
The 26-year-old joined the Villans on loan from Manchester United last summer, helping plug the gap left by Leon Bailey’s move to Roma.
He would bring some serious pedigree to Villa Park, having shone with Borussia Dortmund in Germany and having arrived fresh off the back of a 13-goal contribution campaign with Chelsea in 2024-25.
Unfortunately though, the 23-cap England international wasn’t able to get his career back on track as part of Unai Emery‘s side, starting just nine times for Villa in the Premier League.
However, whilst Sancho’s performances for Aston Villa saw him blow cold considerably more than he did hot, the winger was doing some things very well indeed.
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How strong were Jadon Sancho’s 2025-26 underlying stats?
Sancho received a lot of criticism at Aston Villa, having made a number of mistakes over the course of the season as well as delivering largely disappointing showings.
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There’s clearly a player in there though, as you don’t score over 50 times and deliver just shy of 70 assists in 158 games for Borussia Dortmund if you don’t have talent.
Jadon Sancho’s Man Utd contract situation Answer
Contract expires 30 June, 2026
Reported weekly wage £200,000
But, a career year from John McGinn combined with Villa’s other quality wide options such as Emi Buendia and Morgan Rogers respectively, all helped to push him further down the pecking order as his performances remained inconsistent.
So, whilst it’s easy to write Sancho’s time off at Villa Park as a total failure, when you peel back the curtains and look at his hidden numbers, you can see how with more consistency and end product, he could’ve flown in B6.
As per FotMob, he created 2.16 chances per game in the Premier League last term, which ranked in the top 9.9 percentile of right wingers in England’s top flight.
Meanwhile, his 32.6 successful passes per game put him in the top 16 per cent of his positional peers, whilst his 66.7 per cent long ball accuracy placed him in the leading 15.3 percentile respectively.
Jadon Sancho Aston Villa stats vs West Ham
Credit: Breaking Media/FotMob
Sancho also ranked in the top 15.3 percentile with his 55.2 per cent dribble success rate, on top of placing in the leading 22.1 per cent for successful dribbles per 90 with 1.65.
His 5.77 touches in the opposition box per game ranked in the top 18.3 per cent of Premier League right wingers, and he was also only dispossessed an average of 0.93 times per 90 respectively.
Where did Sancho’s numbers let him down?
So, if those underlying numbers were good, which they are, then why didn’t Sancho evolve into an Aston Villa success story last season?
Well, his 13 per cent cross success rate ranked him in the bottom 21.4 percentile of top-flight right wingers, whilst his 2.89 duels won per 90 put him in the lower 8.4 per cent respectively.
Sancho’s 4.54 defensive contributions per game were in the bottom 4.6 percentile of his positional peers, and his 1.03 shots per 90 put him in the lower 6.9 per cent respectively.
In short, Sancho looked good in flashes and did some nice things in possession, but when it came to actually playing that final ball and producing that piece of end product, it was very rarely there from him.
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