Maguire excited to play alongside "exceptional talent" Sancho
Stefan Bienkowski
- 12 Aug 2021 19:40 BST
- 5 min read
Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has admitted that he’s excited by the “exceptional talent” Jadon Sancho will bring to the Old Trafford squad this season.
After at least 18 months of pursuit, the England international finally made the move to Man Utd from Borussia Dortmund in June when the Premier League giants agreed to pay £73 million for Sancho’s signature.
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The former Dortmund star arrived in Manchester as a bona fide star thanks to his performances in the Bundesliga and Maguire struggled to hide his admiration for the latest addition to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad.
"I think he's been linked with us for a couple of seasons now and it felt a bit like my transfer when I was joining Manchester United, where it didn't happen one season but the following season we managed to get it over the line,” said the England defender in an interview with Sky Sports.
"I'm really excited for him, he's an exceptional talent. He's the type of player - with the confidence he has - who can be a real star for this club and I feel like in the future and the success we have, he can have a big part to play."
Where does Sancho play his best football?
Sancho made 137 appearances for Dortmund over the course of four years at the club and in that time he bagged an impressive 50 goals and 64 assists.
However, when we break that down across both wings we do begin to see a contrast between his numbers on either wing.
For example, when we look at the goals he scored on either wing we find that Sancho averaged 0.41 goals per 90 minutes on the right wing and 0.58 per 90 on the left wing. Which suggests he’s notably more comfortable taking shots on goal when he cuts in from the left.
Intriguingly, while the difference is far smaller, the Man Utd signing also performed better on the left flank for assists too, with 0.67 per 90 compared to 0.62 per 90 when he was played on the right wing.
In total, that means Sancho averaged 1.03 goals and assists per 90 on the right wing for Dortmund and 1.25 per 90 on the left wing. And while that may not seem like a whole lot, that extra 0.22 per 90 could mean an extra seven or eight goals or assists across a league campaign.
