Former Manchester United forward Dimitar Berbatov has accused Jadon Sancho of 'overestimating his own value' to the club amid his ongoing stand-off with head coach Erik ten Hag.
Sancho's failure to apologise for a controversial social media post earlier this month has led to him being banished from the first-team set-up at Old Trafford.
The 23-year-old is not currently training with the first team or being considered for selection, while it is understood that he is also not able to use the first-team facilities at the club's training complex.
Ten Hag said that the forward was not included in the squad against Arsenal earlier this month due to some poor performances in training, but the player later took to social media to insist that was not the case.
Unless Sancho apologises to his manager, it appears that his career with the Red Devils is over, with a number of clubs thought to be weighing up January moves for the ex-Manchester City youngster.
© Reuters
Berbatov has said that players of the ilk of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo carry weight in similar situations, but the Bulgarian has questioned Sancho's conduct considering his struggles at Old Trafford.
"If it continues like this, Jadon Sancho going to go nowhere at the club. I'm very disappointed that a situation like this has been made public and a lot of people are discussing it," Berbatov told Betfair.
"Things like this happen often, but they're not made public. Players will fight with their managers, players, club staff, or even themselves, but it's not often made public. When it's connected to a big club like United, then people will talk about it and interpret it differently.
"In this case, Sancho has been there for over two years and it's still not working out for him. Sancho must know this, too, and maybe that's where his dissatisfaction is coming from.
"When you know you're not producing, you can be angry with yourself and your manager and this can lead to a bust-up like this. The manager makes the decisions, though, and if Sancho doesn't apologise to Ten Hag publicly or privately and understands his mistake the right way.
© Reuters
"Once he's done that, he needs to earn his place in the team - and the only way to do that is by training harder and playing well when the chance arises. Sometimes a player, and I hope this isn't the case for Sancho, who takes this long to resolve conflict has overestimated his own value to the club. When it's Ronaldo, it's different as he's achieved everything.
"I was at the club when Wayne Rooney had a fallout with the manager, and they sorted things out. I think Sancho is overestimating his importance. He's not won that many trophies with them. It's a different situation.
"United can easily decide to get rid of Sancho over this. As talented as he is, and we all saw it at Dortmund, he has yet to show any of this at United. We can only speculate why that is, maybe it's his surroundings or the people who he's around.
"Or maybe it's because he doesn't agree with the manager. If this drags on anymore, I can't see it getting better and it's best to part ways."
Sancho has only managed 12 goals and six assists in 82 appearances for Man United since making a high-profile move from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2021.
Matt Law
