I just don't buy the two excuses he gets. That he lost motivation after receiving a massive contract, and that he couldn't live with the pressure of playing for a club of our size.
I think he was just never that good.
I hadn't watched any of him before joining us, so I trusted the fans and got hyped at the signing, but after underwhelming here for so long, I went back to watch some Dortmund stuff last year and I wasn't impressed there either. If I had seen those performances before signing him I would have been against the signing to begin with. His deficiencies were there to see then, too. Even in a weaker league he struggled to beat his full back, lacked strength to resist pressing opposition, and completely relied on having teammates being close to him to have any effect whatsoever. Yes, you need good link-up players, but those players should still be able to excel on their own in terms of when they're isolated on the pitch when needed, too, but Sancho didn't showcase any of those traits/skills, and still hasn't.
The player he was for us is no different to the one at Dortmund. It's just that his flaws got exposed here.
I think he was just never that good.
I hadn't watched any of him before joining us, so I trusted the fans and got hyped at the signing, but after underwhelming here for so long, I went back to watch some Dortmund stuff last year and I wasn't impressed there either. If I had seen those performances before signing him I would have been against the signing to begin with. His deficiencies were there to see then, too. Even in a weaker league he struggled to beat his full back, lacked strength to resist pressing opposition, and completely relied on having teammates being close to him to have any effect whatsoever. Yes, you need good link-up players, but those players should still be able to excel on their own in terms of when they're isolated on the pitch when needed, too, but Sancho didn't showcase any of those traits/skills, and still hasn't.
The player he was for us is no different to the one at Dortmund. It's just that his flaws got exposed here.