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Jadon Sancho is still looking for a new club after being released by Manchester United earlier this summer, as Pep Guardiola's comments about the England winger look more relevant than ever.
Sancho spent two years in the Manchester City youth system after joining from Watford at just 15 years old. Since then, he's had an impressive spell at Borussia Dortmund before a big-money move to the Red Devils.
His spell at Old Trafford was ultimately a failure, as Sancho spent most of his time out on loan, most recently at Aston Villa. Now, the future is extremely uncertain for the 26-year-old, who was once one of the most exciting players in world football.
Sancho's Career Hits New Low as He Trains With 10th-Tier Club
Jadon Sancho during a pre-match warm-up with Chelsea
Between 2021 and 2026, the Englishman managed just 83 appearances for United, scoring 12 and registering six assists. Per The Sun, Sancho has recently been using non-league Flixton’s 2,000-capacity Valley Road ground to keep fit.
"You’ve got a nice layout here. It’s the first time I’ve seen a nice pitch [in this area] apart from United and City," he said when discussing the facilities in a club interview.
England's U17 World Cup winners in 2017
England's U17 World Cup winners in 2017
The currently unemployed forward has promised to be in the stands to watch Flixton's game next Tuesday as the club prepare for their first competitive season since going bust in 2012.
Pep Guardiola Already Explained Sancho Red Flag
Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola
Speaking in 2017, Guardiola explained Sancho's decision to leave Man City to find more game time at Dortmund. The Catalan-born coach explained a new deal was agreed with the player, who was also set to train with the first team, before Sancho changed his mind.
Guardiola explained: "There are two sides to the decision and if one side doesn’t want it, it doesn’t want. We arrived at an agreement with Sancho, we shake our hands [on a deal], so we offered him a huge deal in terms of the salary. Even after when they say ‘No’, we met the father and the managers, and the other managers, and with him, but if the player says ‘No, no, no, no, no’, what can we do?"
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
That led the English club to leave him behind when they left for the pre-season tour of America after Sancho failed to show up for training sessions, as Guardiola added: "We shake our hands and after that, before we went to the States, he decided, or the managers decided, ‘I am not going to sign the contract’.
"We said, ‘OK, you are not going to travel to the States because if you are not going to sign the contract, you are going to stay here’, and after that for the last two or three weeks he didn’t appear in the training sessions. He should come but he didn’t. I said, ‘Where are you?’"
Guardiola, one of the Premier League's greatest-ever managers, has been known to give youth a chance during his reign at the Etihad, and even with Barcelona and Bayern Munich. But ultimately, Sancho didn't want to hang around to see how things would go at Man City.
Statistics in this article are courtesy of Transfermarkt. Correct as of 02-08-26.