Erik ten Hag sends surprising message to Jadon Sancho after allowing out-of-favour winger to leave Man Utd for Borussia Dortmund loan

Having been frozen out at Old Trafford since the end of August, England international winger Sancho has been allowed to retrace his steps to Germany. That move has been made two-and-a-half years after completing a £75 million ($96m) transfer to the Premier League. Ten Hag decided to banish Sancho from the first-team fold in Manchester and was reluctant to waste too much time discussing that topic when asked about the 23-year-old in the immediate aftermath of his January departure.

Quizzed on Sancho ahead of a home date with Tottenham, Ten Hag said: “I hope he's doing well, so I wish him the best of good luck. That's it. I hope he's doing well and he'll be a success.”

Pressed again on the same subject, the Dutch coach snapped back: “I replied [to the previous question], I think it's enough.”

While Sancho is now out of sight and mind for Ten Hag, United’s head coach is still working on trying to bring the best out of other misfiring forwards. Brazil international Antony falls into that category, with Ten Hag – who also worked with the South American at Ajax – saying of another out-of-sorts winger: “I can explain, I think it's very simple. His off field issues stop him playing. First year was okay, the pre-season was very okay, first four games was very good, I've seen the game against Spurs back and he played a very good game but from the moment he was out and then he came back and didn't deliver the performance you should expect from him and he can do so much better.

“You mention Ajax, I look back there his effectiveness, end product was higher and also Champions League very high. He's capable of doing this, key actions, key passes, the crosses, the finishing, it's very high and should return to that level but the Premier League is more difficult and he's capable of doing that. It has had an effect, an impact on him, definitely, so he has to deal with that, he caused them (the questions), he has to sort them out but he has to do better.”

United have struggled for consistency as a collective this season, leaving the FA Cup as their only route to major silverware, and Ten Hag needs to find a way of getting his side to deliver on their potential if questions of his own future are to be brought to a close.