While some of his teammates prepared for a tough fight in the biggest game of their season against Bayern Munich, Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho was seen prioritizing the videogame version of the sport instead.
Manchester United have not had much luck with them only winning two matches since the start of the season and 11 first-team players being injured or unavailable for matches.
After Greenwood’s departure and Antony’s expulsion from the squad, Jadon Sancho has been exiled from first-team training as well after he refused to apologize to Ten Hag for his outburst on social media directed against the manager.
Instead of keeping a low profile and working his way back to the squad, Sancho was found playing EA FC 24 while his injury-stricken team faced the 32-time Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich at Allianz Arena.
A streamer unexpectedly found himself playing alongside the banished right-winger in the Pro Clubs mode of the game and it did not take much time for this news to spread like wildfire across social media.
Screenshots circulated on Twitter with Sancho playing under the game tag ‘Sanch_x10’, while another picture showed that he was playing alongside his friend Tammy Abraham, another English international who has been injured of late.
The Manchester United fanbase evidently did not find it amusing as they slated Sancho for his utter disregard for the team he is employed with.
Sancho’s lack of effort in training has often come into scrutiny when he was at Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund, with England’s senior squad, and now with Manchester United.
Fans berated the 23-year old for his poor professionalism before a big Champions League game which could easily unsettle some of his teammates.
People moaning about Sancho playing computer games last night. Like most footballers don't do that. It's the motivation to be the best that's the issue. Some just want the lifestyle and to coast
Supporters who do believe Sancho was treated unfairly and frozen out of the squad sympathized with him as footballers are only humans who can spend their leisure time how they want to and it should not matter what the player does in his free time.
However, there were arguments made about how the English international should be wiser in spending his time elsewhere on a matchday, and choosing to game instead of supporting his team when they play against the Bavarians raised doubts about where his true priorities lie.
Jadon Sancho playing FIFA before the team plays their first CL game isn’t a coincidence. It’s a statement.
Fact is he could’ve told the people “don’t take pics let’s just cool off and play”. It’s a very harmless thing for him to be doing. I have no issue. But however you look…
Frustration from fans was palpable as their strong opinion was that even though what Sancho does when he’s not working should not be a point of concern to anyone, he should have at least attempted to keep his gaming activities discreet instead of playing with strangers, since it puts a bad look on the club.
The growing tension between Ten Hag and Sancho will only be worsened by this new incident as he struggles to make it back to the first-team squad with his time at the club looking to be heading towards an unfortunate end.
