Can Sancho really play as a right wing-back for Man Utd?
Stefan Bienkowski
- 9 Nov 2021 10:12 CST
- 5 min read
Few players are having as bad a season as Jadon Sancho is at Manchester United right now.
While the club in general seems to be in disarray, the England international seems to be even more at fault due to the fact that he still can’t get a game for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side despite the team’s poor run of form.
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Whether it’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani or Marcus Rashford, Sancho simply isn’t getting a look in at Man Utd and Solskjaer’s recent shift to a 3-5-2 formation may be further bad news for the player.
According to the Athletic, Man Utd’s coaching staff have been considering a change in position for Sancho and the possibility of playing the former Borussia Dortmund star as a wing-back in Solskjaer’s new system.
So would that potentially mean more minutes for the £76 million signing or is this just further proof that Sancho made a terrible mistake in joining the club in the summer?
Can Sancho work in a 3-5-2?
The whole point of the 3-5-2 formation is to provide defensive cover in the form of three central defenders whilst also relying on wing-backs to get forward and provide the necessary depth in attack.
In other words, Solskjaer’s new formation simply negates the need for wingers at all in Man Utd’s team and means Sancho would not only have to overcome rival wide players to get some game time at Old Trafford but would also have to redevelop his role as a player entirely.
While the likes of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial can play as No.10s or more traditional strikers, Sancho is unquestionably a winger in every sense of the word and simply wouldn’t be of much use in a 3-5-2 formation unless he was asked to play as a wing-back. A role that certainly wouldn’t play to the former Borussia Dortmund star’s strengths.
Indeed, Sancho never played as a wing-back during his time in Germany and while some wingers can sometimes change their game to be more defensive, the England international is very little use to any team outside of the opponent’s final third.
In other words, any hopes of turning Sancho into a galavanting wing-back at Old Trafford will likely end in disaster and a lot of wasted money. Whether this spells the end for Sancho’s time at Man Utd before it has even started remains to be seen, but things continue to go from bad to worse for the England international since joining the club in the summer.
