Pep Guardiola's damning Jadon Sancho assessment as ex-Man United ace causes controversy

Pep Guardiola was left frustrated by Jadon Sancho's attitude long before his bitter falling out with Manchester United.

Sancho is currently on loan at Chelsea from United, with the Blues having an obligation to sign the Englishman for around £25million this summer should they finish 14th or higher in the Premier League. Once one of Europe’s most-coveted prospects at Manchester City and then at Borussia Dortmund, Sancho’s £73m transfer to United in July 2021 marked a major turning point in his career for all the wrong reasons.

His performances for the Red Devils left plenty to be desired before a clash with previous head coach Erik ten Hag saw him frozen out of the team and loaned back to Dortmund in January 2024. Yet, despite patching things up with Ten Hag and moving to Stamford Bridge at the start of this season, it appears the 24-year-old is not ready to forgive and forget just yet.

He appeared to take a dig at United by commenting “freedom”, along with a prayer and a raised hand emoji, under Marcus Rashford’s Instagram post on Sunday after the latter’s debut for Aston Villa. Rashford joined Villa on deadline day this January after being accused of training poorly and being frozen out by current Red Devils boss Ruben Amorim.

Sancho endured a similar experience when Ten Hag revealed after United’s 3-1 defeat to Arsenal back in September 2023 that the winger wasn’t part of the matchday squad because of poor performances in training. The Englishman hit back an hour later by taking to social media and, in essence, accusing his manager of lying.

He wrote: "Please don't believe everything you read. I will not allow people to say things that are completely untrue. I have conducted myself in training very well this week. I