Erik ten Hag 'set Jadon Sancho strict rule' at Man Utd that no other player had to follow

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag set a strict rule for Jadon Sancho when he took charge at Old Trafford, according to a new report.

Sancho's future at United is currently believed to be in doubt after a public dispute between the winger and Ten Hag - part of which played out on social media.

After Ten Hag claimed in a press conference that Sancho had not been selected in the squad to take on Arsenal due to training performances, the 23-year-old took to Twitter to state that was not the case. His post has since been deleted.

The Daily Star claim that 'clear-the-air talks' between manager and player came to nothing, and Sancho is now expected to leave United in January.

He may, therefore, have already played his last game under Ten Hag, although the Dutch manager may need to call upon Sancho for Saturday's fixture against Brighton with Antony currently unavailable for selection.

According to a new report, Ten Hag went as far as setting a strict rule for Sancho to follow last season.

Erik ten Hag set 'strict rule' for Jadon Sancho to follow last season

The Athletic claim that Ten Hag and his coaches attempted to get Sancho to arrive on time for training by setting his schedule at least one hour earlier than the rest of the first team squad.

It is claimed that, when the winger was at Borussia Dortmund, he occasionally missed team meetings, and then Dortmund boss Edin Terzic teamed him up with Erling Haaland due to Norwegian's high levels of professionalism.

There was also said to be some 'concern' behind the scenes over how Ten Hag publicly described Sancho's absence from the first team due to mental health reasons at the end of last year.

However, the Dutchman is said to have believed that he was being 'supportive' of the player, and United felt that not providing a reason for his absence would have led to further speculation.

One England youth coach, meanwhile, defended the winger: "Maybe they don't wear their tracksuit bottoms exactly like everybody else, or their laces are undone, or they wear headphones, we think they're a bad person and we start to label them.

"They might be late once or twice, but somebody else might be late once or twice but we'll forgive the other person because they fit our unconscious bias."

Sancho is not the only player to have fallen foul of Ten Hag for disciplinary reasons. Marcus Rashford was dropped for a Premier League fixture against Wolves in January after turning up late for a team meeting, while Alejandro Garnacho suffered the same fate in pre-season last year.

All in all, it appears likely that Sancho will depart United in January - at the end of what has been a difficult 2023 for the winger.