Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag makes major Jadon Sancho admission

Jadon Sancho could start the season up front for Manchester United in an extraordinary turn of events for the one-time exile.

Sancho has not scored for United since the final day of the Premier League season against Fulham in May 2023 but he could occupy the centre forward role against former club Manchester City in the Community Shield on Saturday.

With Rasmus Hojlund out until September with a hamstring injury and Joshua Zirkzee yet to start full team training, Sancho started as a false nine in two of United's three pre-season tour games in the United States.

United manager Erik ten Hag has accepted Marcus Rashford is not an effective number nine and £36.5million signing Zirkzee did not link up with the touring party in Los Angeles, despite playing four minutes for the Netherlands at the European Championship and holidaying in LA.

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Ten Hag trialled Sancho as a false nine in pre-season last year but started Rashford up front in the first two league games of the campaign against Wolves and Tottenham Hotspur before the fit-again Anthony Martial was recalled against Nottingham Forest.

Sancho has not played a competitive match for United since the Forest fixture after he accused Ten Hag of lying over his absence from the matchday squad at Arsenal on September 3.

Ten Hag and Sancho held a clear-the-air meeting last month and Sancho returned to first team training after a ten-month absence. Yet there has been no suggestion that Sancho has apologised for his conduct and now the United manager may have to turn to a player whom he banished from the squad last season.

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