Jadon Sancho made a request to Erik ten Hag after return from three-month Man United hiatus

Jadon Sancho made a special request to Erik ten Hag upon returning to the Manchester United following a break.

After scoring against Liverpool in August, Sancho found himself out of form and out of favour at United. He was left out of Gareth Southgate's England World Cup squad and Ten Hag elected to send him to Netherlands for a specialist programme after saying he was struggling "physically and mentally".

He trained individually with North Brabant amateur club OJC Rosmalen and ended up being away from United for three months and missed a number of games.

He made his return against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg on 1 February and has since scored off the bench against Leeds United and Leicester City.

Sancho has rediscovered his confidence and according to the Daily Mail, he was desperate to work closely with Benni McCarthy when he headed back to Carrington.

Image: Alamy

The South African, who played for Ajax, Porto, Blackburn and West Ham, joined United as a striker coach and has been credited with the monumental improvement on the pitch from Marcus Rashford.

The United No.10 has scored a career-best 24 goals in all competitions, including 16 goals in 17 games since the World Cup in Qatar.

He has focused on making Rashford more direct and complete, with his composure in front of goal and heading looking completely transformed.

Sancho wanted one-on-one training himself with Champions League winner McCarthy, who also passes on advice to Anthony Martial and is well-liked by the squad.

Image: Alamy

Explaining the decision to bring McCarthy in last month, Ten Hag said: "In our coaching staff, we had a lot of defenders and midfield players. I wanted to find a good balance. He is offensive-minded as he is a former striker, and that is also a really specific task in the team.

"I never played there, so I'm lucky to have someone on my staff who did. Football is about scoring. You have a goalkeeping specialist, but you also have offensive specialists and, in particular, we have a specific scoring coach."

Already Sancho looks full of confidence and shone in a No.10 role in an exciting cameo in the 3-0 win over Leicester City.

United now turn their attentions to the huge Europa League play-off second leg against Barcelona on Thursday.

Topics: Manchester United, Jadon Sancho, Premier League

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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