Jadon Sancho suffered the indignity of being subbed on and then subbed off during Aston Villa’s shock 1-0 win against Manchester City.
Matty Cash scored a stunning winner at Villa Park on Sunday to put a dent in City’s Premier League title hopes, with Arsenal now four points clear at the top following their 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.
Sancho, who joined Villa on loan from Manchester United on deadline day, started the game on the bench but was called upon after 29 minutes to replace the injured Emi Buendia.
His performance didn’t seem to impress Unai Emery however, as he was then hauled off in the 74th minute for Evann Guessand.
As the winger came off the pitch, the former England international appeared to completely ignore his manager as he endured a new low.
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However, Emery said Sancho was ‘fantastic’ and claimed he was only brought off because of fitness reasons.
‘He’s getting fit. He played 50 minutes, very good minutes on Thursday,’ the Villa boss to Sky Sports.
‘I planned for him maybe 60 minutes was too much. But it was very good for him showing his talent. But 60 minutes would’ve been too much for him.
‘Of course sometimes the players can feel embarrassed or even angry with me. But it was a tactical decision, it was my plan in case something went wrong. He played a fantastic 45 minutes.’
Having been banished from first-team training at Carrington over the summer, and having recently come back from illness, it is perhaps understandable that Sancho may not yet be 100 per cent.
Once heralded as one of the best young players in the world, Sancho has suffered a fall from grace since leaving Borussia Dortmund for Old Trafford in 2021 in a deal worth £73million.
He failed to deliver at United and his career at the club effectively came to an end following a public fallout with Erik ten Hag two years ago.
The 25-year-old showed glimpses of his potential during loan spells at Dortmund and Chelsea, but even after helping the latter win the Conference League last season, they paid United £5m NOT to sign him permanently.
Ruben Amorim doesn’t want him and Emery doesn’t seem keen either, handing him just five appearances so far, with Villa losing the two games he started.
Emery also shockingly left Harvey Elliott out of the squad to face City, with the highly-rated young English enduring a torrid time since leaving Liverpool on loan.
‘I spoke with him about it,’ Emery added. ‘My advice was to keep going, training, and when it is his opportunity, to play well.
‘He is a very good player. Our demands are in the high level. He needs time to work and wait for his moment.’
Sancho next chance to play will be next Saturday night against Liverpool and with Elliott ineligible to face his parent club, he’ll have to wait until the Europa League clash against Maccabi Tel Aviv on November 6.
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