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Exclusive: Manchester City left baffled as teenage winger Jadon Sancho goes walkabout
Jadon Sancho, the Manchester City teenage prodigy, who has barely been at the club since the first team squad returned from their pre-season tour of the US a month ago, has left his club baffled after failing to turn up for training.
Telegraph Sport reported last month how the England Under-17 winger, who is coveted by a host of leading clubs, had failed to turn up for numerous training sessions in Manchester after being omitted from Pep Guardiola’s tour squad.
But the situation has escalated in the weeks since with Sancho on a collision course with City after failing to turn up for training for much of August.
Sancho has been sporadically retweeting posts on his Twitter account but staff at the club have routinely struggled to get in contact with him.
City regard Sancho as one of their brightest academy prospects alongside midfielders Phil Foden and Brahim Díaz. But while Foden and Díaz were both included on City’s tour of the US, Sancho – who is still a scholar and has not signed a professional contract – was omitted by Guardiola after indicating that he wanted to leave the club.
Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund and Red Bull Leipzig are among the clubs monitoring Sancho’s situation. An overseas club would have to pay a significantly smaller sum in compensation than an English suitor.
Sancho joined City from Watford for £500,000 in 2015 and it is thought the winger, who was named as the Golden Player at the European Under-17 Championship this summer, would ideally like to return to London.
But the situation threatens to drag on while Sancho fails to report for duty and City struggle to reach him. City have been left shocked and dismayed by Sancho’s attitude over the past six weeks and are keen to sit down and hold talks with the player in order to establish a way forward.
Sancho’s desire to leave City is believed to stem in part from concerns about his chances of getting an opportunity in the club’s first team.