Roy Keane's Candid Advice to Sancho: A Path to Redemption at Manchester United

Roy Keane Urges Jadon Sancho to Apologise and Salvage Man United Career

Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane has delivered a candid message to Jadon Sancho, calling on the winger to apologise to manager Erik ten Hag. Keane emphasised that if he were in Sancho's position, he would feel embarrassed if his manager had criticised his training performances.

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Sancho's strained relationship with Ten Hag has resulted in him being kept away from the Red Devils' first team. The standoff began when Sancho refused to apologise for his public comments against the manager. The £73 million signing had publicly referred to himself as a "scapegoat" and effectively accused Ten Hag of dishonesty after a 3-1 defeat to Arsenal.

As a consequence, Sancho was excluded from United's training sessions and denied access to senior squad facilities, including the dining room. Despite joining United from Borussia Dortmund in 2021, he has only made three substitute appearances this season and has not featured in the squad since his outburst.

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Keane defended Ten Hag's right to publicly criticise Sancho's training efforts, highlighting that players should be held accountable.

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‘My annoyance with Sancho would be if he is not training properly. Whatever it is about his personality, we are all different,' the 52-year-old said as the Daily Mail reported. ‘I’d be embarrassed, I’d be ashamed of my life if the manager ever came up to me, or even spoke through the media.

‘People say you can’t say stuff about the players through the media, yes you can, you can send messages out to people.'

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Keane, a pundit, believes that there is still an opportunity for Sancho to salvage his Manchester United career if he extends an apology to Ten Hag. He also pointed out that football dressing rooms are unique environments where players can quickly move past conflicts if individuals show humility and acknowledge their mistakes.

Keane said: "If you have got question marks over this player, he is not training properly and he does turn around and show some sort of humility and says maybe I got it wrong, you can move on very quickly." He added, "Football dressing rooms are a strange dynamic. If a player shows they care and they are human, it's fine, we move on quickly."

Keane's perspective offers a glimpse into the dynamics of player-manager relationships and the potential for reconciliation in the world of professional football.

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