Manchester United have to restore their ruthless rule over Jadon Sancho situation

Jadon Sancho was a belated arrival for his first Manchester United training session and he is still yet to truly arrive at the club.

Sancho reported for pre-season training in August 2021 when staff had initially expected him to rendezvous with his new teammates at St Andrews a week earlier.

His England teammates, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, were ever-presents during the European Championship run to the final the previous month and both travelled to Scotland. Sancho’s sole start in England's seven matches was in the quarter-final stroll against Ukraine. Before having a kick for United, Sancho had been indulged.

So why the leeway? Sancho had finalised his transfer after the Euros, so his three-week break began once he had concluded his unveiling engagements. Plenty of United players had already found Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be a soft touch by then.

Also read: United targeting four key signings next summer

If Sancho thought his break was generous he would soon realise Edinson Cavani had a record holiday allowance. Cavani was always absent for the first game after international duty and occasionally overruled the medical staff to declare himself unfit for matches. Cavani played in Urguay’s Copa America quarter-final defeat to Colombia on July 4 in 2021 yet did not train at Carrington until August 20. That is a 47-day vacation.

Sancho has never recovered from his false start. Sources at Carrington say the England players struggled mentally after their Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy. Sancho and Marcus Rashford’s spotkick failures in the shootout were compounded by lowlifes racially abusing them on the internet.

Sancho was thrust into what should have been a demanding environment at United, where Cristiano Ronaldo was