Man Utd treble winner scolds ineffective United star, with deadline day exit almost certain

Teddy Sheringham has taken aim at a Manchester United forward who is too much style and not enough substance, and a deadline-beating exit now looks assured.

Among the biggest issues Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS cohorts aimed to address upon taking full sporting control at Manchester United was the club’s woeful record in the transfer market.

Gone are the days of paying big fees and colossal salaries for short-term fixes. The era of ‘Hollywood’ signings like Raphael Varane, Casemiro and Cristiano Ronaldo (second stint) is over.

Instead, Man Utd have targeted younger players largely in their early-mid 20s who in theory, will spend their prime years at United and not elsewhere.

That was the view the former regime also took with regards to signing Jadon Sancho back in 2021.

However, it was telling that Man Utd were the only club in the mix for Sancho’s signature and the 24-year-old has since presided over a dismal three years at Old Trafford.

Indeed, it spoke volumes when Man Utd quoted clubs a price tag of just £40m earlier in the window despite Sancho costing £73m to prise out of Dortmund.

Now, iconic Man Utd striker, Teddy Sheringham, has taken aim at Sancho on the eve of what looks certain to be his exit.

Sheringham – who famously helped Man Utd lift a historic treble in 1999 – declared Sancho is too “flashy” and there’s not enough substance to back up the style.

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Sheringham takes parting shot at Sancho

“He wasn’t on the bench in the game [vs Brighton] – that’s a bit of a wow moment for me,” said Sheringham (as quoted by the Manchester Evening News)

“The player isn’t going to like that one little bit – but that’s the manager’s decision and there’s nothing wrong with him deciding to leave him out.

“There’s too many flitty in-and-out wingers at United; too many flashy players that don’t really do the business, and he’s one of them.”

Sheringham’s comments do appear to hold weight when looking at Sancho’s goals and assists record with United.

In 83 appearances for the Red Devils, Sancho has returned measly figures of 12 goals and six assists.

That is in sharp contrast to Sancho’s last two seasons in Dortmund in which he scored 36 goals and provided 40 assists across the 2019/20 and 2020/21 campaigns.

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Sancho exit coming, but where?

Sancho and Erik ten Hag mended fences in pre-season after their public falling out last term. The spat resulted in Sancho re-joining Borussia Dortmund on loan for the second half of the 2023/24 campaign.

But despite putting their issues to one side, Sancho does not appear to feature prominently in Ten Hag’s plans.

As such, a late exit is expected, with both Chelsea and Juventus willing to take a chance on Sancho.

A blockbuster swap that would see Sancho join Chelsea and Raheem Sterling move to Man Utd has been discussed.

Sancho has also been tipped to join Juventus in a loan deal that contains either an option or obligation to buy.

Juventus completed the £12.5m (including add-ons) sale of Federico Chiesa to Liverpool on Thursday.

As such, a spot in Thiago Motta’s forward line has opened up and Sancho is Juve’s favourite to fill it.

However, the demands Man Utd have made – salary coverage, size of the option/obligation – have thus far been deemed too high by Juve. Accordingly a switch to Turin has stalled.

Instead, a move to Chelsea could lay in wait and TEAMtalk has been told discussions on that front are advanced as of the early hours of Friday morning.

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