Jadon Sancho: How will he fit in at Manchester United
The Jadon Sancho to Manchester United transfer saga had been more on again off again than Ross and Rachel, but now Sancho is finally at Old Trafford, what should United fans expect.
Is Sancho really that good? After all, this is a player who barely had a look in for England at the Euros, yet has cost Manchester United a reported £73m.
The assist king
After moving to Borussia Dortmund from Manchester City at the age of 17 Sancho was immediately included in the first-team squad. He made his debut that season, but it wasn’t until the 2018/19 campaign that he cemented his place as a regular in the Dortmund starting line-up.
Sancho instantly showed a flair for providing goals, and since the beginning of the 2018/19 season, only Thomas Muller and Lionel Messi have provided more assists than the England man across the top five major European leagues.
It is not just laying on golden opportunities for his Dortmund teammates that has seen Sancho’s price tag consistently rise over the last few years though, it is his own goalscoring prowess, as well as his ability to create chances for others, that makes him such a coveted commodity.
During the 2019/20 season Sancho recorded 15 goals and 15 assists, something that only Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez and Eden Hazard have achieved in the last ten years, and something that no Englishman has managed since Matt Le Tissier did it for Southampton back in 1994/95.
Sancho’s level of goal involvement is impressive for a wide player, and the way he carries the ball is a big part of this.
Only Messi has seen his ‘carries’ directly involved in more goals than Sancho over the last three seasons, while Sancho’s tally for assist-ending carries is a long way ahead of anyone else - Moussa Diaby on 14 the closest to his 22.
Why did Sancho not start for England?
Think back to the days leading up to the Germany round of 16 game. Much of the disgruntlement amongst England fans with regards to Gareth Southgate’s team selections at Euro 2020 had been directed toward the omission of Jack Grealish. But there were also plenty of people asking why Sancho was not getting a look in for the Three Lions.
Since the start of the 2018/19 season no English player has been involved in more goals than Sancho across the top five major European leagues, with him and Harry Kane tied on 78 - though Kane has played more than 1,000 more minutes in that period.
Sancho played just 117 minutes for England at the tournament, so why was Southgate not particularly enamored with Manchester United’s new signing?
The obvious first reason would be his level of work rate, and whether or not he can be trusted to do his job defensively. Of all the players he was realistically vying for a position against (Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Grealish), Sancho recorded the joint-lowest number of tackles per game domestically last season - he and Sterling tied on 0.7 per match.
That is a lazy assumption though, and it probably goes a little deeper than that.
The big similarity between Sancho and Jack Grealish is the amount of time they hold onto the ball for.
Last season in the Bundesliga Sancho attempted three dribbles per match, more than Jack Grealish’s 2.5 in the Premier League.
Interestingly though, those two are way out in front in terms of that metric, with Sterling the closest at 2.1, while Mount, Saka and Foden all attempted less than two dribbles a match on average last season.
Dribbling with the ball can unlock a defence, but it can also lead to a loss of possession. In short, it is unpredictable.
Southgate’s percentage football approach had no room for the unpredictable, and this could be one of the major reasons why Grealish and Sancho, arguably the two most similar players in the England squad, both struggled for game time.
Will Sancho be able to reproduce his Dortmund form for Man United?
The right-wing position has been something of an issue for Manchester United for some time now, with Daniel James not really up to the standard needed to push them to the next level, while berths out wide for both Mason Greenwood and Paul Pogba last season were merely a means to an end rather than long term solutions.
Sancho is a natural wide man, and his creativity is something that Manchester United have been missing for a while, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men far too reliant on counter-attacking for a team challenging for the title, but will Sancho be able to replicate in the Premier League what he has been doing in the Bundesliga?
Firstly, the Premier League is a very different beast to the German league, particularly physically, but also, when taking into account Sancho’s expected assist (xA) numbers over the past few seasons, it does pose a few questions.
In 2018/19 Sancho provided 14 assists, but his xA was just 6.85, in 2019/20 his assist tally was 16 with an xA of 10.05, and last season he laid on 11 goals for his teammates from an xA of 8.12.
This means the chances he is creating for his teammates are not quite as guilt-edged as his numbers suggest, and given it has been Erling Haaland on the end of the vast majority of those assists over the last two years, perhaps there is a small overreliance on top-class finishing, rather than top-class assisting – Haaland has overperformed his expected goals tally (xG) in each of the last two seasons.
The good news for United however, is that each of Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Edison Cavani all also outperformed their xG last season, with Anthony Martial the only forward at Old Trafford to underperform.
Is Sancho a good signing?
Sancho will bring plenty to this Manchester United team, both in terms of goals and assists, and fortunately for the ex-Watford and City man, he will have nowhere near the level of competition for his spot at Manchester United as he does for England.
Euro 2020 ended in penalty heartbreak for Sancho, but this mercurial creator of goals may could instantly prove himself an Old Trafford hero.
The stats are all there, and if we are to believe what they are suggesting, then yes, Sancho really is that good.
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