Sources: Manchester United boss Ten Hag stands by Sancho’s comments

Sancho was left out of the squad during Sunday’s 3-1 defeat by Arsenal, with Ten Hag saying afterwards: “Because of his performance in training, we didn’t pick him.”

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But within an hour, Sancho responded by insisting that Ten Hag’s remarks were “absolutely untrue”.

“Please don’t believe everything you read! I did very well in training this week,” Sancho added in a statement posted to X.

“I guess there are other reasons for this that I won’t go into, I’ve been a scapegoat for so long and it’s not fair!”

Ten Hag was informed of Sancho’s response on the flight back to Manchester from London on Sunday night but decided not to issue a clarification for his post-match comments.

According to the sources, he is believed to have been clear about the reasons for Sancho’s exclusion and adheres to the opinion that he does not deserve a place in the team due to his performance in training.

The 23-year-old, who moved to Old Trafford from Borussia Dortmund in a £73m ($92m) deal in 2021, has made three substitute appearances so far this season.

Sancho has risked disciplinary action for his social media posts.

Ten Hag has acted quickly to eradicate perceived indiscipline at United in the past.

When Cristiano Ronaldo said in an interview in November 2022 that he had “no respect” for Ten Hag, the Portuguese striker’s contract was canceled by mutual consent before completing the move to Al Nassr.

In December, Marcus Rashford was benched for a match against Wolves after arriving late for a team meeting.

Sources have told ESPN that United are hoping to use extended transfer spells in Turkey and Saudi Arabia to offload Eric Bailly and Donny van de Beek.

The European window closed on Friday with the duo – both out of favor – remaining at Old Trafford.

Bailey was not part of the squad for the summer tour of the United States and was training with the reserves.