Jadon Sancho: Central striker? Man Utd injury crisis putting England forward's Old Trafford redemption at early risk

At Wembley, City will be armed up front with Erling Haaland, who scored 36 goals in his first Premier League season and 28 in his second. He has warmed up for a third consecutive assault on the Golden Boot by having an extended summer break while his contemporaries were at the European Championship or Copa America.

And he has been scoring for fun in the pre-season tour of the United States, even plundering a hat-trick against Chelsea. United, by contrast, will be relying on a forward who has hardly any experience of playing up front and even less positive experience of the role.

This is not how Ten Hag planned it, of course. Rasmus Hojlund hurt his hamstring against Arsenal and new signing Joshua Zirkzee has barely trained with the team. The manager has also seemingly abandoned the idea of playing Marcus Rashford through the middle, which did not go well at the start of last season. Rashford's revival over pre-season has confirmed the notion that he is best deployed from the left of the attack.

There remains a possibility that Ten Hag does what he did in the last two games against City, and play Bruno Fernandes as a false nine. But he has hinted it will be Sancho, who started there in the final two games of the ill-fated U.S. tour, in the 3-2 win over Real Betis and the 3-0 defeat by Liverpool. The latter was not a particulary good advert for him in the role, as he failed to get into many positive positions, and the wide forwards Rashford and Amad Diallo had much better games.

Ten Hag actually experimented with Sancho as a false nine on the previous U.S. tour, just weeks before their relationship exploded in full view of social media. He had scored against Arsenal in New Jersey, but that was as good as it got.

And when the season started properly, Sancho was on the bench, playing just a handful of minutes before being left out of the squad for the trip to Arsenal, when Ten Hag let it slip that he had not been training hard enough, and all hell broke loose.

Little has happened in between to suggest that Sancho is now better equipped for playing up front or that his rift with Ten Hag has properly healed. The coach was adamant last year that Sancho must publicly apologise for his verbal attack, and was so adamant that he preferred to send him on loan to Borussia Dortmund than back down.

A private chat seems to have been enough to bury the hatchet this time, but for how long? The pair's agreement to put their furious spat behind them feels more like a ceasefire than a permanent peace process, and Sancho playing out of position will put this fragile relationship to the test.

Sancho did revitalise his career on loan at Dortmund, but it was playing on the right of the attack, with a clear focal point in Niclas Fullkrug to chime with.

He rediscovered his dribbling ability while playing back in Dortmund, having barely demonstrated it at United, either under Ten Hag or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Indeed, he only dribbled past a player seven times in 48 games with the Red Devils.

In one match for Dortmund against Paris Saint-Germain, he completed 12 dribbles, the most of any player in the Champions League since Lionel Messi in 2008. It feels like United should be trying to rediscover that version of Sancho, the thrusting, thrilling winger, rather than try to reinvent him in an unfamiliar position.

Sancho does not have the physique of Fullkrug or the power of Hojlund, and him playing as a traditional centre-forward is unlikely to cause City many problems. He stands a better chance as a false nine, although that still feels like it won't get the best out of him.

To be effective he will need to drop deeper into attacking midfield and pick out either Rashford, Amad or Alejandro Garnacho. Doing so runs the risk of him getting in the way of Fernandes or Mason Mount, who also has a point to prove after missing most of last season through injury.

The counter argument is that Sancho no longer has the luxury to choose where he plays at United. He has been given an unexpected second chance and the onus is on him, rather than Ten Hag, to show he still has something to give.

While Sancho was away, Garnacho developed into one of United's most consistent forwards. Amad, meanwhile, had a superb end to the season and was electric in pre-season. Ten Hag gave the Ivory Coast international few opportunities last season, but has declared that this will be a huge campaign for him. He has overtaken Sancho and deserves a chance to stake his claim for a regular place in the team over the man who let a petty squabble with his manager dominate the last year.

Rashford, of course, had a dismal last campaign and looked unfocused for much of it, but he has appeared rejuvenated and sharp in pre-season. It should not be forgotten that his incredible campaign in 2022-23 came after a terrible showing in 2021-22.

Ten Hag believes that Rashford can bounce back once more and that is why he is reluctant to start him as the centre-forward, as he is well aware of the player's misgivings about the role.

The fact Sancho is likely to play there despite his unsuitability suggests he is behind Rashford too. That is also understandable, given Rashford’s status as United’s highest-paid player as well as a homegrown player who came through the academy. The club are not ready to give up on him after one bad season.

It looked as if they had given up on Sancho, but the winger’s resurgence with Dortmund, as well as an apparent lack of clubs willing to meet United’s asking price, has given him an unexpected second chance, even if he is likely to be United's fourth-choice winger, only ahead of the dreadful Antony.

While Sancho complained of being a "scapegoat" for United’s problems, he will now have to adjust to a different role within the squad and do as every new signing proclaims, and play wherever he is asked to.

Sancho 3.0 starts on Saturday, up front against the best team in England, if not the world. How he adapts will tell us whether he can write another redemption story, or if he has reached a point of no return.