Pep Guardiola's reasons for selling Jadon Sancho laid bare as Man Utd star hits back at Erik ten Hag

Pep Guardiola once explained Manchester City’s reasons for selling Jadon Sancho to Borussia Dortmund.

Sancho, now of Manchester United, is embroiled in a public disagreement with manager Erik ten Hag after he was dropped for the club’s Arsenal game because of poor performances in training.

The 23-year-old did not travel to north London for Sunday’s heavyweight Premier League clash, where two stoppage-time goals condemned Ten Hag’s men to a 3-1 defeat.

Having come off the bench in United’s first three matches of the Premier League campaign, Sancho was conspicuous by his absence, with Ten Hag revealing after the game that the England international had been dropped due to his standard in training.

The Dutchman explained: "Jadon, on his performances in training we did not select him. You have to reach a level every day at Manchester United and we can make choices in the front line. So for this game, he was not selected."

But Sancho hit back on X, the social media platform formally known as Twitter. He said: "Please don't believe everything you read! I will not allow people saying things that are completely untrue, I have conducted myself in training very well this week.

"I believe there are other reasons for this matter that I won't go into, I've been a scapegoat for a long time which isn't fair! All I want to do is play football with a smile on my face and contribute to my team.

"I respect all decisions that are made by the coaching staff, I play with fantastic players and (am) grateful to do so which I know every week is a challenge. I will continue to fight for this badge no matter what!"

Sancho was once one of the gems of City’s academy but rejected a contract with the Citizens in 2017 in favour of signing for Dortmund. Indeed, at the time Sancho had been involved in first-team training for City and continued to tear it up at youth level.

But he went on to move to the Bundesliga, where he became one of the most sought-after attackers in world football, netting 50 goals in 137 appearances in all competitions.

In 2019 Guardiola explained why Sancho had not committed his future to City. The Spaniard said via the Mirror: “He didn't want to take this challenge, this opportunity to discover if he was able to.

"He decided to go there. So, it's perfect. It's going well and congratulations on what he is doing."

Sancho has struggled for consistency since moving to Old Trafford for Borussia Dortmund for £73million in 2021.

The winger has netted 12 goals in 82 appearances in all competitions for the Old Trafford club.