Erik ten Hag wants Jadon Sancho to apologise for his social media post claiming to have been made a scapegoat for a long time before the winger returns to the Manchester United first team.

United said on Thursday that Sancho is currently on a personal training programme pending the resolution of a squad discipline issue.

Ten Hag is not prepared to back down and will not allow his authority to be challenged. He wants Sancho to apologise to him and the club, otherwise, he will not play for United under the manager.

Ten Hag has no problem with players approaching him privately to discuss his decisions, but they cannot criticise him or the club or vent their frustrations in a public forum.

Ten Hag’s demands

However, Sancho has so far refused to meet Ten Hag’s demands for an apology, believing he was within his rights to respond to the criticism that was shared with a global audience and that he saw as questioning his professionalism.

Sources close to Sancho feel he has been unfairly treated and that there has been an inconsistent implementation of the rules at the club, with some in the squad seen as being given preferential treatment.

However, United’s counter is that Ten Hag’s application of football-related discipline has been indiscriminate, stretching to Marcus Rashford, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Alejandro Garnacho when they have breached required rules or standards.

The frustrations of Sancho – who moved to Old Trafford from Borussia Dortmund under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2021 – predate Ten Hag’s appointment.

Sancho missed trip to Arsenal

Sancho was left out of United’s matchday squad for the trip to Arsenal on Sunday, September 3, with Ten Hag explaining afterwards that the decision was due to poor training performances.

Later the same evening, the 23-year-old claimed he had been a scapegoat for a long time in a social media post and said Ten Hag’s claims were ‘completely untrue’.

Following the online outburst, Sancho was linked with a shock move to Saudi Arabia on loan but ended up staying at Old Trafford amid planned talks between him and the coaching staff this week.

The post was deleted on Tuesday, but only after it had been viewed more than 60 million times.

There is some sympathy for Sancho within the United camp, but not for the way he has gone about things.