Man Utd coach explains why Jadon Sancho refused to apologise to Erik ten Hag

Manchester United first-team coach Benni McCarthy has explained why Jadon Sancho refused to apologise to Erik ten Hag earlier this season.

Sancho was shipped out on loan to Borussia Dortmund during the January transfer window after seeing his fallout with the Dutchman play out in public. The English winger was frozen out by the United boss after failing to say sorry for a social media post directed at Ten Hag.

The post read: “Please don’t believe everything you read. I will not allow people saying things that is completely untrue, I have conducted myself very well in training 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!”

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This was in response to a claim made by Ten Hag that Sancho was not at the required ‘level’ in training to be selected for first-team matches. As a result, the 24-year-old made only three substitute appearances in the Premier League before being excluded from all future matchday squads.

Opening up on why Sancho chose to stand his ground in this dispute, McCarthy told 947: “I spoke to the manager and I said to him that you know the delicacy.

“I told him I think Jadon feels that if he apologises then he’s going to be classed as someone who doesn’t train hard, that doesn’t work hard and that everything that was said against him was true.

“If you are from the streets, no one wants to apologise because then you’re admitting you are not training well, you are lazy, everything you are accused of,” continued the United coach and former Blackburn Rovers striker.

“Jadon wasn’t going to have that. The manager just said that all he wants is an apology. I spoke to Jadon as a coach, as a mentor, as a friend and as someone who grew up on the streets and knows the code. But Jadon just wasn’t seeing it. He said, ‘I ain’t apologising because if I do, I’m apologising for being lazy, always being late and not giving my best. That’s what I’m apologising for’. And those were his reasons.”

Sancho has made the most of being back at Dortmund, making 20 appearances for the German club and helping them reach the Champions League final. His Old Trafford future could very much depend on whether Ten Hag stays or goes this summer, which is yet to be decided by the United hierarchy.