When Jadon Sancho finally moved to Manchester United in the summer of 2021 after almost a year long pursuit, a lot of fans expected the winger to hit the ground running. That didn’t happen, and now in 2023, some are even questioning whether it might be best to part ways with the player. However, there is evidence that Sancho still has a lot to offer United going forward – if the club can make a few adjustments.
What sparked this article was a bit of general data scouting. Looking for high performing under 23s, I looked at carries and passes into the penalty area. After taking the value for each metric and converting them into Z-scores to look at how each player has performed comparatively, it became clear that Jadon Sancho has been elite in his progressive output this season.
2.39 carries and 2.05 passes into the penalty area per 90 minutes puts Sancho within the top 15% of all under 23 forwards this season, beating out the likes of Bukayo Saka, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and United teammate Antony in terms of combined entries. However, this by itself doesn’t completely negate fans’ concerns about the winger.
As shown in Sancho’s percentile rankings against other Premier League attacking midfielders, he excels in getting the ball forward. High rankings for progressive carries, open play shot creating actions and key passes are all implications of a very creative player. However, for a player creating such a high volume of chances, his 56th percentile ranking for expected assists is quite low. On top of that, a 44th percentile ranking for take-on success rate somewhat contradicts his high carrying numbers. So how can we explain this?
Looking at where Sancho acts can help us with this. From his heatmap, we can see that he isn’t a “get to the byline for cutbacks” kind of winger. Backed up by where most of his more dangerous passes and shots come from, we can reasonably class Sancho as an inverted winger who likes to operate within half-spaces and around the edge of the penalty area. Because of this, Sancho doesn’t always look to beat an opposition full back on the outside, rather preferring to pass around them, or move laterally across the final third. This helps to create space for an overlapping fullback like Luke Shaw, or a third man run (see Eriksen’s run for Sancho’s goal against Spurs this season).
Away from the data and more onto personal, subjective opinions, I can see why United fans may not fully appreciate what Sancho does.
During the 2020/21 season, arguably the season that made United begin their pursuit, Sancho regularly found himself in positions like above. Faced with an opposition fullback, he decides not to beat him by going down the outside.
Instead, he begins to move towards the corner of the penalty area – making movements that create heatmaps like the one he’s created this season.
With his next touch, and utilising the overlapping run from Jude Bellingham, Sancho cuts in. At this point, he could shoot, but instead he takes a couple of extra touches.
This sucks Bielefeld’s defence in and creates lots of space for Mahmoud Dahoud outside the box. Sancho lays the ball off to him, he takes a touch, and scores.
What Jadon Sancho thrives off is runners around him, players who can make good use of the space he creates. I see him as more of an “enabler” than a traditional creative winger: through his clever movement and timing on and off the ball, he enables the players around him to find space and create goalscoring chances. At Dortmund, Erling Haaland was key, always making runs into or inside the box, ready to collect a Sancho pass or in swinging cross. Of course, being a great finisher helped too.
Right now, Manchester United don’t have an Erling Haaland, or any striker who can control a penalty area and make the most of Sancho’s abilities. This renders his “enabling” abilities ineffective in the side. Wout Weghorst and Antony Martial have both undershot their xG this season. This metric in this sample size isn’t super useful, but coupled up with low xG totals in general suggests that both strikers aren’t doing much to help the side in terms of goals.
Both players don’t spend much time in the penalty area either, with their heatmaps showing that they prefer to partake in hold up and link up play, unlike a traditional nine. Martial’s tendency to drift wide tends to cause Sancho to move towards the centre of the pitch, functioning like a 10 at times. However, Sancho’s comfort in passing makes him effective in keeping control within the opposition final third.
In the Bundesliga, defensive lines are almost always high, leaving a lot of space in behind for team to exploit in transition. This played to Sancho’s strengths, but in the Premier League, where teams are more compact within their final third, it is a lot harder to find space. Intelligent players around Sancho will allow him to shine. A player like Victor Osimhen’s penalty box presence will help, and Harry Kane is arguably the best all-round forward for United.
Right now, Jadon Sancho’s playing style and the team he’s playing for seem to be disconnected. Perhaps he needs to adapt and be more direct in his play? Maybe a Kane or Osimhen fixes his issues? I’m not sure. But Sancho is definitely not “not good enough” for Manchester United.
