Manchester United have met with Jadon Sancho during his loan spell at Borussia Dortmund, with Erik ten Hag revealing his dispute with the forward will be resolved in the close season.
The 24-year-old joined Dortmund in January on a temporary basis having not played for United since August after he fell out with Ten Hag who left him out of the squad for the 3-1 loss at Arsenal in early September.
Immediately afterwards, Ten Hag claimed Sancho was absent because he had not trained to the standard required before the game. Sancho responded with a tweet that disputed this and, in essence, called Ten Hag a liar. Sancho then refused to apologise to the Dutchman, so was excluded by him.
The England winger was among Dortmund’s best performers in Wednesday’s 1-0 victory against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-final first leg. Ten Hag was asked whether Sancho would be reinstated in the United squad if he apologised, and if the player is being monitored at Dortmund.
“We are close in that process,” the Manchester United manager said. “We are visiting games, not only [Wednesday] – [I] will not say all the games, but we have seen more games from Dortmund where Jadon was performing. We had a visit with him, we talked with him, and we will keep going with this process.”
It is understood that John Murtough, the former football director at United, and Matt Hargreaves, the director of player negotiations, were the club representatives who travelled to Dortmund for discussions with the player.
Ten Hag was pressed regarding the apology. “There was a conflict and let’s finish the season first,” he said. “So stay away from this issue now – it is not important. He has the return [leg] of the semi-final, in the league it is not going that well for them. We have four important games in the league and the FA Cup final and then we will see.”
Last week, Bruno Fernandes discussed his future at United with Dazn Portugal. “Obviously, it doesn’t just depend on me, does it?” he said. “A player always has to want to be here, but at the same time, you have to want him to stay. At the moment, I feel there’s that on both sides.”
Ten Hag is confident the captain will remain at United for the last two years on his contract. “Definitely,” he said. “I know he is Manchester United and he is very happy to be here.”
Fernandes is an injury doubt for United’s trip to Crystal Palace on Monday but the manager said he would “fight” to be fit. Ten Hag was then asked if he was hinting that other players in his squad are less inclined to battle to be available when nursing minor problems.
“It is also a very subjective criteria,” the manager said: “One [thing] is sure, Bruno is a real fighter. Last year for instance when we played Brighton [in the FA Cup] semi-final, he played with an ankle that was so thick [swollen] it was unbelievable. What is fair enough [to say] is that Bruno is a very good example for other players.”
Harry Maguire was yesterday ruled out of the visit to Selhurst Park with a muscle injury that will rule him out for three weeks. Maguire’s absence adds to United’s injury crisis in central defence, where midfielder Casemiro has been filling in for recent matches.
Maguire will likely not return for United in the league this season but will hope to be fit for the FA Cup final against Manchester City on 25 May and for the Euros this summer.
