January window prediction for Man Utd & Liverpool transfer flops as ex-Aston Villa loanee reacts to Jadon Sancho & Harvey Elliott struggles

Having spent last season with Chelsea, helping them to Conference League glory and Champions League qualification, Sancho was returned to Old Trafford when no permanent transfer option was triggered at Stamford Bridge.

He remains out of favour with the Red Devils under Ruben Amorim, having been dumped into the infamous ‘bomb squad’, and jumped at the chance to head for Villa Park. The 25-year-old winger has, however, been restricted to just 13 appearances under Unai Emery and is yet to start a Premier League fixture in the 2025-26 campaign.

Quizzed on whether a season-long loan agreement at Villa could be torn up, Jenas told 10bet: “I think we could see Sancho potentially leaving Villa in January. Look, is Jadon a very talented player? I think we've clearly seen he’s an extremely talented footballer, but we've just not seen it consistently since he's come to the Premier League.

“He's had numerous opportunities with various managers at Manchester United. Now going to Villa with another manager, and it hasn’t quite worked out.

“I think he needs to go play abroad again, as I think the tempo and physicality of the game suits him better outside of England. I think players are going abroad and showing their true qualities. It doesn't always work, but I think for a player of Jadon Sancho's capabilities, I think it's a really good fit.”

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Another loan star that has failed to sparkle at Villa is England U21 international Elliott. He left Premier League champions Liverpool in a bid to find the regular game time being denied him at Anfield.

The 22-year-old playmaker is completely out of favour at present, leading Jenas to say of his situation: “I think Harvey Elliott needs to go and play somewhere that he's going to play football. This summer, he obviously fully felt that Villa was the right place to go. I think if I was him I would have looked at it like that as well. But it's not worked out. For whatever reason, only he knows that.

“Whether it's his fault in terms of his application or his ability, I don't know whether he just doesn't fit into the system. But the reality is now if he goes back to Liverpool, I don't see him playing there either. So there's no point in that. You need to make sure you are, from January onwards playing in the Premier League week in, week out.

“I think Harvey Elliott's had too many years really as an in-out player. He's shown what he can do in the summer with England U21s and I think that it's time now that he went and took a risk. If you look at Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, he could have seen out a huge contract at Chelsea after moving from Leicester, but he showed real appetite to move to Everton, and he’s kicked on. I think that’s the blueprint for Harvey - just not to move to Everton!”

With Sancho and Elliott often being overlooked, others have been impressing for Villa. They are now sat third in the Premier League table - three points adrift of leaders Arsenal - and are looking to bring a 30-year wait for major silverware to a close in 2026.

Asked about their title credentials, Jenas said: “I don't think they're likely to win it at all, but I do believe that they are challengers on the basis that we've got one of the best managers in the league who knows how to win.

“They've got a fantastic squad. I think they'll make some additions to that squad because I think a couple will leave. A couple of their loans that they've brought in have not worked at all. So I think they'll make some space for some new blood to come in January.

“I think they're going to be there or thereabouts. I think when Villa get themselves into this position, as we saw a couple of years ago, they still made it into the Champions League. Villa park is a fortress and a lot of the big clubs don't like going there, so they'll be challenging. I just don't see them going all the way.”

Villa, who are also making positive progress in the Europa League this season, will be back in action on Sunday when playing host to Manchester United before a testing run of fixtures sees them head to Chelsea on December 27 and Arsenal for their final outing of 2025.