Don't give up on Jadon Sancho just yet! Marcus Rashford resurrected his Man Utd career after a dismal last season, and the £73m winger can too

In the midst of Rashford's best ever season, it is easy to forget that only one year ago he too was being widely criticised, with many believing his days at Old Trafford were numbered.

He had played much of the 2020-21 campaign with a shoulder injury, taking injections and painkillers to keep playing before eventually opting for surgery.

And, like Sancho, he had endured a difficult summer after missing his penalty in the Euro 2020 final shootout against Italy.

The shoulder surgery kept him out of action until mid-October, and his return to the team unfortunately coincided with the downfall of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

He also had to re-adapt to a team that had completely altered its style of play in order to accommodate a 36-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo.

His first start was the horrific 5-0 defeat at home to Liverpool, his second the 4-1 thrashing at Watford which proved to be Solskjaer's last game in charge.

Of the 31 Premier League matches he was available for after completing his recovery, Rashford started only 13.

One moment in particular appeared to sum up his miserable plight. In an FA Cup tie against Aston Villa, a Mason Greenwood shot was spilled into his path, but Rashford made no attempt to pounce on the loose ball, instead complaining to his strike partner that he had not passed to him.

He was pilloried online by fans and pundits, including Steve McLaren = now one of his coaches at United - who pointed to his negative body language.

Rashford made only eight starts in all competitions after that match against Villa, and ended the season with a miserable five goals in all competitions and one assist while United recorded their worst points total in 30 Premier League campaigns.

Contrast that with his form this season, in which he has scored 27 goals and has 10 assists.

He has already more goals than in any other campaign and, once he returns from injury, will have plenty more games to add to his total.

The club are now desperate to tie him to a new contract, although Rashford and his representatives hold all the cards as his current deal expires in 2024 and his stock has never been higher.

Rashford's resurrection has been remarkable given how low he stooped last season. But looking at his career, it should not have been that surprising.

Since breaking into the first time in February 2016 with his stunning brace against Midtjylland until the end of the 2020-21 season, he had 143 goal contributions, averaging 23 per season.

The 2021-22 campaign was a blip in an otherwise outstanding career.

Rashford also made a huge effort to get himself right, both mentally and physically, again.

After the Euro 2020 final defeat, he sought the help of a psychologist, and while many of his team-mates were enjoying their summer breaks last year, he headed to Nike's headquarters in Oregon for an intense training plan, working with a team of fitness coaches and sports scientists.

He worked on his explosivenes, practising sprints on an elevated 200-metre track and running with bungee cords strapped to his back.

He also worked closely with Ten Hag and his coaching staff, particularly Benni McCarthy, on his finishing.

"Football is probably 95 percent your mentality," Rashford said in February. "That gives you the baseline to perform. There are a lot of players that have ability – that’s why they play at the top level. But what sets them apart is the mentality.

"I’m concentrating a lot more on keeping myself in that headspace and it’s needed in order to win games and trophies."

Rashford's resurgence over the last year is an example of how much a player can improve if they put their mind to it. So why can't Sancho bounce back too?

His record at Dortmund was phenomenal. He scored 50 goals and contributed 64 assists in 137 matches and was named in the Bundesliga's Team of the Season for both 2018-19 and 2019-20.

And for anyone who says the Bundesliga cannot be compared to the Premier League, look at how Erling Haaland, Sancho's old team-mate, has scored far more goals in England than he did in Germany.

He clearly has talent in abundance, he has just found it difficult to adapt to United.

Not all of that is his fault. Last season was a disaster for everyone involved, and the likes of Rashford and Bruno Fernandes experienced downturns amid a chaotic campaign as United went through three managers.

This season has been difficult on a personal level for Sancho. In November after being left out for a number of games, he deleted all of his social media posts.

In December, Ten Hag explained why Sancho had been placed on the individual training programme.

"When the league started he played some good games, but after we got a drop of levels. Sometimes you don't know why or what is causing it," the Dutchman said.

"Most of the time it comes slowly. First you observe but the stats back it up. In the start of the season, he had goals and assists, but his key moments and key actions became less and less. It's a combination of physical but also mental."

Sancho has not spoken to the media since returning to the United squad in January and we still don't know what was behind his prolonged absence.

He may have been experiencing personal troubles. Footballer's are humans like everyone else and personal issues can easily affect a player's form, especially at a club as demanding as United.

No footballer has had the perfect career.

Harry Kane looked in the wilderness for much of last season after he failed to get the move he wanted to Manchester City. And it took years of loan spells for him to develop into the player he would become.

Even multiple Ballon d'Or winners Lionel Messi and Ronaldo have had slumps in form.

Ronaldo needed three seasons at United before he really came into his own in the 2006-07 campaign, having been hounded by the press for his role in getting Wayne Rooney sent off in Portugal's 2006 World Cup quarter-final win over England.

Speaking to GOAL about the rise of United's teenage star Alejandro Garnacho, Nick Cox, the head of United's youth academy, emphasised that dips are part of a player's development.

"I think it's always really easy for bystanders to think that people are overnight successes and that they haven't faced any challenge or they haven't faced any setbacks along the way. And it's rarely the case with top performers," he said.

Cox was not talking about Sancho, but the same applies to him. All top players go through setbacks.

Sancho is still 23 and has at least another 10 years ahead of him in the elite. He deserves support, not to be dismissed as another expensive Manchester United flop and moved on before he has had the chance to prove himself.

But it is also up to him. He must seek the help he needs to return to the player he was, be that physically or mentally.

He must put the hard work in too. And he could start with having a long conversation with his team-mate Rashford.