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Former Manchester United star Dimitar Berbatov has warned that Jadon Sancho may have grossly overestimated his value to the team amidst his ongoing dispute with Erik ten Hag.
Following his controversial statement that was published on social media in which he accused Ten Hag of being a liar, Sancho was banished from the first team.
When asked to apologise to his manager, the Englishman refused.
He has been training with the youth team until further notice.
As a result of his axing from the senior squad, Sancho has missed games against Brighton, Bayern Munich, Burnley and Crystal Palace.
Ten Hag told journalists after the Palace game on Tuesday that Sancho’s return to the team depends on the player himself – an indication that all the forward has to do is issue an apology for his actions.
However, the 23-year-old has so far refused to back down.
Berbatov spoke to Betfair via The Sun and explained that Sancho is not irreplaceable, and United would have no problems parting ways with him as he has never shown his full ability and potential since arriving from Borussia Dortmund in a big-money move.
The Bulgarian said, “The manager makes the decisions, though, and if Sancho doesn’t apologise to Ten Hag publicly or privately and understands his mistake the right way. Once he’s done that, he needs to earn his place in the team – and the only way to do that is by training harder and playing well when the chance arises.”
“Sometimes a player, and I hope this isn’t the case for Sancho, who takes this long to resolve conflict has overestimated his own value to the club. When it’s [Cristiano] Ronaldo, it’s different as he’s achieved everything. I was at the club when Wayne Rooney had a fall out with the manager, and they sorted things out.”
Berbatov added, “I think Sancho is overestimating his importance. He’s not won that many trophies with them. It’s a different situation.
“United can easily decide to get rid of Sancho over this. As talented as he is, and we all saw it at Dortmund, he has yet to show any of this at United.”
The former goalscorer mentioned that at the moment, he can only speculate that there’s a problem with Sancho’s entourage or there’s an unknown problem between him and Ten Hag.
Berbatov remarked that the longer this saga drags on, a solution to the conflict becomes more and more unlikely.
He warned the United number 25 that he risks “going nowhere at the club” if he carries on with his agenda of going to war with the boss.
Berbatov also expressed his disappointment with the manner in which events have unfolded.
