MANCHESTER (Reuters) – Manchester United winger Jadon Sancho said he had been unfairly made a “scapegoat” after his manager Erik ten Hag claimed he had been left out of the squad to face Arsenal on Sunday because of poor training performance.
Sancho was a surprise omission for United’s dramatic 3-1 stoppage-time Premier League loss to Arsenal that dropped them to 11th in the table.
“On his performance on training we didn’t select him,” Ten Hag said, when asked about Sancho’s absence from the travelling squad.
“You have to reach the level every day at Manchester United. You can make choices in the front line, so in this game he wasn’t selected.”
The 23-year-old Sancho wasted little time in responding in a lengthy post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Please don’t believe everything you read! I will not allow people saying things that is completely untrue. I have conducted myself in training very well this week,” Sancho wrote.
“I believe there are other reasons for this matter that I won’t go into. I’ve been a scapegoat for a long time, which isn’t fair. All I want to do is play football with a smile on my face and contribute to my team.”
Sancho, who has played 58 league games since joining United in 2021, said he respects all decisions made by the coaching staff.
“I play with fantastic players and grateful to do so,” he said. “Which I know every week is a challenge. I will continue to fight for this badge no matter what!”
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Additional reporting by Tommy Lund; Editing by Toby Davis)
