The football World Cup in Qatar starts on Monday for the English national team with the game against Iran. But just before the “Three Lions” start the tournament, a player causes an uproar that coach Gareth Southgate didn’t take with him to the desert emirate: Jadon Sancho.
On Sunday, the dribbler, who is under contract with Manchester United, deleted all posts on his Instagram page and his profile picture has been blacked out. Fans are puzzled about the motives of the ex-Dortmunder. Some see it as a protest against the controversial World Cup, others see it as a dig at coach Southgate for not calling him into the national team.
As the “Sportbild” reports, some English media assume that Sancho is taking a social media break to concentrate on the second half of the Premier League. The dribbling artist is heavily criticized at Manchester United. So far he has not been able to perform consistently in the “Red Devils” jersey, which is probably why he ultimately did not make it into the national team.
After moving from Manchester City to Borussia Dortmund in 2017, Sancho developed into one of the star players of the black and yellow. The 22-year-old shone on the right flank, scored 50 goals and provided 64 assists in 137 games for BVB. In addition to his strong performances, the youngster was also repeatedly noticed for his lack of discipline.
In 2021, Sancho moved back to Great Britain to join Manchester United. After a stable initial phase, his performance collapsed like that of the entire team. Sancho has not been able to free himself from the low form to this day.
His meager rate for the “Red Devils”: 52 games, 8 goals, 4 assists. Probably because of these poor performances, Southgate completely dispensed with Sancho in this tournament. Even at the rescheduled European Championships last year, he did not get beyond the reserve role in the English national team.
Sources: Jadon Sancho Instagram, Sportbild.de, Transfermarkt.de
