Erik ten Hag provides worrying update on Jadon Sancho fitness

Erik ten Hag has admitted that there is currently no timeline for Jadon Sancho’s return to action for Manchester United.

The English forward hit the ground running under Ten Hag at the start of the season, scoring crucial goals in wins over Liverpool and Leicester City, before missing the final four games prior to the World Cup due to an unspecified illness.

Sancho was then not included in Man Utd’s squad for their mid-World Cup trip to Spain to play two friendlies – which the Red Devils lost to Cadiz and Real Betis respectively. Speaking to the press on the matter, Ten Hag admitted that he is unsure when Sancho will return.

“He’s not fit enough,” the boss said. “We didn’t see him in the last games for United as he wasn’t in the right fitness state and he is now on an individual programme.

“We want him to finish that and hopefully see him back soon. We want to bring him back as quickly as possible but I can’t give a prognosis of when that will be. He was good [in pre-season] but also when the league started he played some good games like Liverpool, Leicester and Arsenal. After we got a drop of level and what happens sometimes you don’t know why or what is causing it.

“That is what we’re doing now, trying to research and now we try to get him back there. It’s a combination of physical but also mental.”