Sancho failed to heed Man Utd star's advice after "can't handle the truth" jibe

Jadon Sancho's Manchester United nightmare looks set to come to a temporary end as Borussia Dortmund close in on a loan move for the wide forward.

It was at Dortmund where Sancho truly announced himself to the rest of European football and he'll undoubtedly be keen to head back to the Signal Iduna Park to try and revive a flatlining career. Having joined United for a fee of £73million back in 2021, the England international has severely underwhelmed at Old Trafford on the pitch.

However, things took a turn for the worse off the pitch at the beginning of this season when Sancho publicly hit back at manager Erik ten Hag, who revealed he was less than impressed with the winger's efforts in training.

Taking to social media in response, Sancho wrote: "Please don't believe everything you read. I will not allow people saying things that [are] completely untrue... I have conducted myself in training very well this week.

"I believe there are other reasons for this matter which I won't go into, I've been a scapegoat for a long time which isn't fair! All I want to do is play football with a smile on my face and contribute to the team.

"I respect all decisions that are made by the coaching staff, I play with fantastic players and grateful to do so which I know every week is a challenge. I will continue to fight for this badge no matter what!"

The comments sent shockwaves through United and in turn, led to Sancho being exiled from the first-team fold. Those remarks came back in September and the 23-year-old has not been seen in a United shirt since.

At the time, former Red Devil Gordon Strachan warned Sancho that he needed to be able to handle criticism and develop a thicker skin if he wanted to salvage his United career.

"First of all, I think that Jadon Sancho needs to understand that Erik ten Hag hasn't sat down and started talking about the player of his own accord," said Strachan to gamblingzone.com. "He's simply answering a question from a reporter. Players always want the truth from their manager.

"In this instance, Erik ten Hag has answered the question honestly and the player hasn't liked his response, but Jadon needs to learn to handle the truth. I think, in hindsight, Ten Hag will look back and regret saying what he did through the media and it would have been more effective telling him face-to-face to avoid what we’ve got now.

"However, Jadon needs to look at himself and figure out what he's doing wrong, rather than feeling as though he's being attacked. Of course, we don't know the whole story, but that's how I see it from the outside. The first thing I would say to a player is 'Have a look at yourself'. Look at yourself before anybody else, it's as simple as that."

It was advice Sancho didn't seem to listen to, as the fall-out from his dispute with Ten Hag has rumbled on for months. The winger was made to train away from the first team and wasn't even permitted to have lunch with his teammates at the club's Carrington training complex.

Now, four months after the fall-out, he is on the verge of a loan return to Dortmund to try and play his way back into the England set-up ahead of Euro 2024. While Sancho's preference was believed to be a permanent exit, the German giants were unable to cover the winger's wage demands.