Asked to assess [Sancho’s dramatic fall from grace](https://www.goal.com/en/lists/jadon-sancho-350k-to-50k-make-break-transfer-warning-man-utd-marcus-rashford-aston-villa/bltbe044a9af533cae5), ex-Villa midfielder Houghton - who was speaking in association with [IrishBetting.ie](https://www.irishbetting.ie/) - told ****GOAL****: “It'd be easy for everybody to say, ‘well, this is what happens if you're not focused on the job’.
“I don't know what's happened to the kid, I don't know what his background is, I don't know what his support group's like, I don't know what's been happening. What I do know is he's been shipped around and that isn’t easy.
“Let me tell you, go and ask players like Harry Kane when he was younger and he's getting, for experience, he's going to Leyton Orient, he went to Millwall. There's been others, but not at the level that he was at. You're talking about youngsters there. Here you're talking about a lad who's actually been at top clubs and now he's been shipped out on loan.
“It's never a great sign for him and I feel for his mentality, I really would hope that he's got good people behind him looking after him because it mustn't be easy for him.
“You can have all the money that you want, I'm sure he's made a lot of money, but you still want to play the game. Where's the love, where's the desire, where's that passion for the game? I hope that's still within him. I'm sure it is, it's just like he needs to find himself again.
“I was talking about Troy Parrott the other day, look what happened to Troy when he was at Tottenham and he was shipped out on loan and then he had to reinvent himself over in the Netherlands and now he's doing well over in Spain. That's what he has to do at the moment, just get back to doing what he used to do as a kid, get that enjoyment back into his game. Someone to put their arm around him, whoever it may be and try to get the best out of him.
“None of us as fans want to see people fail, do we? I don't want to see anyone fail, I don't care where you're playing. I want people to go out and play to their best because there's no better feeling when you're playing well and you're playing at a club where the fans not adore you, but respect you and want you to have the best career that you can and that's what I want for Sancho, I want him to have the best career that he can.”