Jadon Sancho given Man Utd lifeline amid Zinedine Zidane links, the France icon is a 'big fan'

Jadon Sancho could be given a lifeline at Manchester United should Zinedine Zidane inherit the manager job from Erik ten Hag.

United crumbled to a dismal 3-0 defeat against Bournemouth at Old Trafford, to leave Erik ten Hag under mounting pressure.

The Old Trafford club came into the game hoping to build on their 2-1 win over Chelsea on Wednesday but found themselves a goal behind in the fifth minute after ex-Liverpool striker Dominic Solanke netted.

The Cherries extended their lead through substitute Philip Billing and Marcos Senesi, while things could have been even worse for United had Dango Ouattara's late goal not been ruled out by VAR.

The loss sees United, who only registered three shots on target, fall to their seventh Premier League defeat of the season and lose further ground on the top four.

It also adds further pressure on Ten Hag's position, with former Real Madrid boss Zidane the bookies favourite to replace the Dutchman.

Should Zidane arrive at Old Trafford it would likely spell good news for out-of-favour centre-back Raphael Varane, who thrived under the Frenchman for Los Blancos.

Meanwhile, it could reignite Sancho’s United career. The England international has been exiled after Ten Hag stated back in September that the winger had not travelled to a 3-1 defeat against Arsenal because he had not trained well enough.

This led to Sancho claiming on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Ten Hag’s explanation was “completely untrue”. He remains suspended after failing to retract his criticism of the United boss.

Sancho is widely believed to be on his way out of Old Trafford in January unless he apologises to Ten Hag or there is a drastic change of circumstance at United.

But should Zidane replace the current United manager, it could reignite the 23-year-old’s career.

According to Diario Gol, the legendary manager was keen to sign Sancho for Real Madrid, when the Englishman was plying his trade at Borussia Dortmund.

In 2019 Zidane gave five points to Sancho for the Ballon d’Or’s Kopa Award for the best young player of the year - a higher score than he gave his own young forward Vinicius Junior.

At the time Zidane was said to be a big fan of Sancho and had reportedly asked Real president Florentino Perez to “pay what they ask” for the player.

Topics: Football, Manchester United, Erik Ten Hag, Zinedine Zidane, Jadon Sancho

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.