Was Sancho a bad signing?

People write him off too early, he has all the requirements to become a quality player, but of course he still has to improve and adapt. Can't be easy for a 21-year-old to come into a dysfunctional club like ours and being immediately expected to tear the league apart.

It also doesn't help that we never improve players, he certainly still has a lot of learning to do, and it would help if our manager and training staff could actually improve him, you know like those guys at City and Liverpool do.
 
VanDeBank said:
Yeah it's not like we have an important game in a week he could make the bench for.

Best not to train at all or recuperate optimally at Carrington.

Shit, its the most normal thing in the world for an injured player to go through an individualized programme with the club's staff using the club's facilities.

Why the feck do our players go to Dubai when they're "injured" and why are fans like @Redlyn okay with this?
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Who said anything about Dubai? I see you just want to rant and rage without any facts so let me get out of your way.
 
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Sancho/Rashford- Martial/Gwood/Cavani - Gwood/Sancho
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Felt like this was the plan for this season. Basically replace the right footed RW James with the better version in Sancho.

However we changed our game plan with a legendary striker that shifted the other players back in to other positions or even out on loan and then Greenwood messed up.
 
Redlyn said:
Who said anything about Dubai? I see you just want to rant and rage without any facts so let me get out of your way.
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Let us pretend Pogba going to Dubai and Sancho going to Paris when they're out injured isn't the same thing, in order to avoid addressing the point.

Which other club sends their injured players out on holiday mid season again?
 
VanDeBank said:
Let us pretend Pogba going to Dubai and Sancho going to Paris when they're out injured isn't the same thing, in order to avoid addressing the point.

Which other club sends their injured players out on holiday mid season again?
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You said 'apparently' at the start of this rant. Before, we get all worked up was he really in Paris this week?

EDIT:

So it turns out Tammy recently posted old pics from April.



 
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He will be a good player, nothing special though, dont expect those Bundesliga stats...
 
He looks like a really good technical player whom in my opinion would be more suited to futsal and definitely a league that is a slower pace than England.
Spending 70+mil on a winger that needs to play one twos to get around his man does not warrant value as far as I am concerned.
I will wait to see how he does next season before I write him off but he is going to have to come back at least a good yard faster and have a bit more physicality in his game if he is going to cut the mustard in the Premier League.
 
I get that people say he needs players to combine with, which he obviously does. But being near enough useless without players to combine with isn’t a good sign, how many top wide players have zero individualism?

Werner commented that defenders in England are taller and faster than what he had to face in Germany and it kind of shows when Sancho runs at his full back 1v1. He looks like he has no idea what to do, it’s like he’s waiting for something to happen.
 
Tavern in the town said:
I get that people say he needs players to combine with, which he obviously does. But being near enough useless without players to combine with isn’t a good sign, how many top wide players have zero individualism?

Werner commented that defenders in England are taller and faster than what he had to face in Germany and it kind of shows when Sancho runs at his full back 1v1. He looks like he has no idea what to do, it’s like he’s waiting for something to happen.
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I'm reserving judgment because I'm struggling to think of a single outfield player who could be said to have had a good season and we know they're not all bad players. It's an absolute shitshow all round. As you say it is a step up so a period of adjustment is also required. He has shown quality in patches as well so I'd be hopeful, if EtH is as good as we think he is, that Sancho can kick on next season.
 
Withnail said:
You said 'apparently' at the start of this rant. Before, we get all worked up was he really in Paris this week?

EDIT:

So it turns out Tammy recently posted old pics from April.



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Thanks detective blue bear :)

Doesn't change the fact that it's absurd to defend players that do go on holiday when injured, like the person I was responding to.
 
I felt he got off on a poor footing by staying on extended holiday after the World Cup rather than training with his new team.

He’d just made potentially the biggest move of his career and signed a contract worth a stupid amount of money - in that scenario, you turn up when your boss says so, especially at the very first time of asking.

It suggests to me either he’s too daft to understand the optics of that (and potentially has poor advisors around him) or didn’t give a shit.

Signing for Man United is a once in a lifetime opportunity, you grab it by both hands not deprioritise it vs. some holiday you could have 12 months later, and every year again for the rest of your life if you really wanted.

I’ve never really been able to shake that first impression of him, and while he’s not exactly shown a poor mentality on the pitch he’s not really demonstrated the opposite either.
 
sugar_kane said:
I felt he got off on a poor footing by staying on extended holiday after the World Cup rather than training with his new team.

He’d just made potentially the biggest move of his career and signed a contract worth a stupid amount of money - in that scenario, you turn up when your boss says so, especially at the very first time of asking.

It suggests to me either he’s too daft to understand the optics of that (and potentially has poor advisors around him) or didn’t give a shit.

Signing for Man United is a once in a lifetime opportunity, you grab it by both hands not deprioritise it vs. some holiday you could have 12 months later, and every year again for the rest of your life if you really wanted.

I’ve never really been able to shake that first impression of him, and while he’s not exactly shown a poor mentality on the pitch he’s not really demonstrated the opposite either.
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Thing is it's optics we have to take in consideration also - seeing how the World Cup ended and all the shitshow that the result caused towards some players ( Saka and Rashford the most). You have to take in consideration their mental health and taking the time off ahead of big move might have been the best for him also at the current time. To get a brief break from football world.

It's safe to say that our current season can't really be the main rating point on some players future form or effect in the club, it was just that lackluster.
 
JuriM said:
Thing is it's optics we have to take in consideration also - seeing how the World Cup ended and all the shitshow that the result caused towards some players ( Saka and Rashford the most). You have to take in consideration their mental health and taking the time off ahead of big move might have been the best for him also at the current time. To get a brief break from football world.

It's safe to say that our current season can't really be the main rating point on some players future form or effect in the club, it was just that lackluster.
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The bolded part is where I feel for Sancho in truth. He's the forgotten man in there for some reason, he also missed a penalty, he also was racial abuse in the immediate aftermath, he also had the songs about him in the early part of the season "Sancho & Rashford let the country down" etc, but somehow it became all about Rashford and Saka and I don't understand how.
 
JuriM said:
Thing is it's optics we have to take in consideration also - seeing how the World Cup ended and all the shitshow that the result caused towards some players ( Saka and Rashford the most). You have to take in consideration their mental health and taking the time off ahead of big move might have been the best for him also at the current time. To get a brief break from football world.

It's safe to say that our current season can't really be the main rating point on some players future form or effect in the club, it was just that lackluster.
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Mental health is massively important, but in the same way that a player needs to be physically fit / not injury prone to make it at the very top they also need to be mentally robust.

If he needs an extra long holiday, meaning missing the start of training with his new employers, to get over missing a penalty then you have to question (assuming that is the real reason) if he has what it takes mentally to make it at the very top of elite football.

If that was in a different industry eyebrows would be raised immediately, as a boss I’d see that as a massive red flag and not expect that employee to last long.
 
sugar_kane said:
Mental health is massively important, but in the same way that a player needs to be physically fit / not injury prone to make it at the very top they also need to be mentally robust.

If he needs an extra long holiday, meaning missing the start of training with his new employers, to get over missing a penalty then you have to question (assuming that is the real reason) if he has what it takes mentally to make it at the very top of elite football.

If that was in a different industry eyebrows would be raised immediately, as a boss I’d see that as a massive red flag and not expect that employee to last long.
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That your last sentence haunts me a bit, I would take different approach and do everything in my power to help my new employee to adjust and feel at home - every new person in your team* is an investment you make. And to make it profitable in the long haul you have to take decisions which might not help you in short term.
 
Josep Dowling said:
My frustration with the signing was I thought he was meant to come in at RW. That hasn’t happened. We sold Dan James so effectively we were left with Greenwood who preferred RW. We know what happened with him. So we spent £70m on a player you could argue we didn’t really need whilst not having a player for the opposite wing. And this club wonders why it’s in a mess. Last summer we needed a DM and RW, and they didn’t sign either.
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He plays well off either wing. But he's a definite forward in my book rather than a hug the touchline cross in the box winger. At season start we had Greenwood playing well on the right and rashford out injured. And then rashfords form was awful. We didnt integrate him into the team well and i dont think he suited the non technical approach we had. Interested to see what happens next season - whether he stays left and we sign another left footer for the right wing to play inverted. I am confident we will see what we paid the money for next season
 
JuriM said:
That your last sentence haunts me a bit, I would take different approach and do everything in my power to help my new employee to adjust and feel at home - every new person in your team* is an investment you make. And to make it profitable in the long haul you have to take decisions which might not help you in short term.
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Yeah I hesitated over that one as I’d anticipated how it might be perceived, but honestly that would be my gut feel.

It wouldn’t change how I treat or support them, I can separate gut feel from my actions, but I’d be full of shit if I said I wasn’t concerned at that point.
 
Jezpeza said:
He plays well off either wing. But he's a definite forward in my book rather than a hug the touchline cross in the box winger. At season start we had Greenwood playing well on the right and rashford out injured. And then rashfords form was awful. We didnt integrate him into the team well and i dont think he suited the non technical approach we had. Interested to see what happens next season - whether he stays left and we sign another left footer for the right wing to play inverted. I am confident we will see what we paid the money for next season
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Agree. Of all the players in the squad, he is arguably the one best suited to EtHs approach.
 
I can't believe this is even a debate, Sancho was a fantastic signing, any other premier league team would be happy to have him in their squad.

He's suffered from being new in a squad that has progressively lost all form and confidence through the season, but that is not his fault. And for all those saying he plays on the left, I obviously dont watch United as much as you do, but whenever I have watched him under both Ole and Ralph doesn't he switch wings throughout the game, I've seen him pop up on both the right and the left despite starting on the left.

I would bet he will be one of your stand out players next season.
 
justsomebloke said:
Agree. Of all the players in the squad, he is arguably the one best suited to EtHs approach.
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And on that line I think Donny could be a dark horse for next season as well. Though his confidence will need picking up in pre season
 
Give him next season. I think he has the quality...Bit surprised how slow he is though.

This is where Utd go bad. say Sancho next year is poor..we should sell while he still has a decent value. BUT no we'll hang on and on..give him a new 5 year contract. We have to stop this. years....stay or go

Fingers crossed he comes good. But 50/50 I feel
 
Absolutely fantastic player and will excel in a functional team that knows how to actually attack and front players that actually move.
 
The question now should be, “was making a Sancho is a bad signing thread completely knee jerk and utterly shortsighted”.

Yes.

/thread.
 
wouldn't write him of yet, he hasn't been great but he's showed enough especially considering how poor we have been as a team. In a better team, with better coaching, I am hopeful of more consistency from him
 
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