Jadon Sancho plays with Borussia Dortmund where he is on loan from Manchester United.Photo: Hendrik Deckers/Borussia Dortmund/Getty Images" src="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/a5Xn9.Wy.XLmkn.1.oMsJw-/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU3Ng-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/ theguardian_763/ed5d1c69b0054c0805724d7cbeb99d81″ data-src="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/a5Xn9.Wy.XLmkn.1.oMsJw-/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU3Ng- -/https://media.zenfs .com/en/theguardian_763/ed5d1c69b0054c0805724d7cbeb99d81″/>
Perhaps the most telling clip of Jadon Sancho to emerge from a wonderfully creative attacking performance during Borussia Dortmund's Champions League semi-final first leg was the one that appeared after the match.
This was Sancho's interview on CBS Sports with a visibly excited Jamie Carragher, who had spent the evening pushing the boundaries of broadcasting by drinking eight pints of beer in the Yellow Wall side and then being able to give a real-time demonstration of how It It's hard to do the job of a professional broadcaster while drunk. Leave respect for the Ron Burgundy style drenched anchor gods of old. It's clearly not as simple as it seems.
Related: Jadon Sancho represents high value for Manchester United, says Ten Hag
Ultimately, the main point of interest in Carragher's interview was the way it seemed like an AI simulation designed to capture in one haunting scene the energies and sounds that have disoriented Sancho's career. Photobot: Capture an image of Jadon Sancho being stalked by an edgy media personality raving about a high-end recovery performance, while invisible voices off-camera chuckle and Sancho looks like he'd actually rather be somewhere else at this particular moment . Yes. That should do it.
The only row of any importance was the last one before Sancho's quick departure. "I don't drink," was his response to an invitation to go out with his interlocutor, a moment that offered his own insight into why a classic English dressing room atmosphere may not be Sancho's ideal environment.
The most striking question came from Peter Schmeichel, also present as a pundit, who asked about Sancho's hopes of an England recall for the European Championship. Sancho made all the right noises before wisely retreating into the area of each game as it comes.
He was always asked this. It's a question that ties into all kinds of related hot-take issues. Sancho's good play is a stick with which you can beat Erik ten Hag. Sancho's good play is also a lateral attack on Gareth Southgate, which must at all times be associated with the idea that talent is being wasted, rather than developed, supported and taken into the late stages of tournaments.
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But it's also a terrible question, one that has no realistic connection with where England, Manchester United and, above all, Sancho himself are now. It will not happen. In fact, it would be a terrible idea on all counts.
Two things derailed Sancho's progress. Firstly, the exaggerated expectations after some sparkling performances. And secondly, throwing a rather gentle soul into the anger and toxic involvement circulating around the England team.
It would be a bizarre reaction to the first signs of recovery to suggest that what he really needs now is for both of these things to repeat themselves. How about we all just let him be good for a while, blossom in his own way, and remember how to be happy. Who breaks a butterfly in a wheel and goes back two years later to do it all over again?
It would be illogical to declare Sancho bankrupt for other reasons. His performance against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday was wonderfully sustained and astute. He just kept going and did it in that beautifully tailored way, all quick feet and creative angles. He looked lighter in every way. This is all wonderful to see. It is talent being expressed.
But it is also a delicate progress. Sancho scored three goals and one assist in seventeen games for Dortmund. Do these figures require a recall in England? Does England actually need him? The answer to both is no. Sancho is an exceptional talent. But one thing England do have is an abundance of inside forwards. Southgate has Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer on the right for their clubs. Anthony Gordon and Jarrod Bowen have goals, form and energy behind them. This is not a risk that needs to be taken.
Do Manchester United need him back? The obvious answer to this is yes: Sancho is a brilliant footballer; United miss this one - but only under certain conditions. Part of the reason Sancho looks so much happier at Dortmund is because he feels supported as the team's attacking star. But also because he has such a clear and linear role, with the mandate to move forward every time, to be the way this team makes space, creative freedom built into the structure.
Related: Champions League team of the week: Jadon Sancho is back to his best
No wonder he struggled in the chaos at United, which is the opposite of this: a team trying to find a way to play, equipped with a zombie team full of afterthoughts and outtakes. There are no signs of a Sancho-friendly structure being lifted into place. This is a very specific type of attacking player. Sometimes the fit will be good. Sometimes not.
Sancho's story is not a tragedy or a mystery. There is nothing unusual about a young footballer making a stupid career move. Players and managers have always had arguments. Jadon Sancho's ballad is more a story about how things are processed now, the obsession with peeled eyeballs for every detail of the sport, the obsession with cinematic young talent. The use of social media has made this argument more painful and less resolvable. Insane overspending has turned a failed move into an unavoidably major problem.
The only element that is truly correctable is the incompetence of the United administration at the time: from manager turnover to scattergun recruitment to the lack of a guiding plan or way of playing. Sancho was never the cause of this. He's just food for the meat grinder, a high-maintenance talent at a club that has exposed its weaknesses and not its strengths.
In terms of moments, that terribly toxic European Championship final at Wembley in July 2021 also had a profound effect on his trajectory. In a more fairytale world, Sancho could be back at the end of this season in another final on the same ground.
In this ideal Sancho world, Southgate could also take over Ten Hag's place at Manchester United later in the summer, an unlikely outcome at this point but about as likely as Sancho goes to the Euros. Let's just play him for now.
