Looking upon his multiple years of experience as one of world football’s most decorated coaches, Jose Mourinho admitted he failed certain players, as he sought to explain Jadon Sancho’s struggles adapting to Premier League football. Mourinho suggested Manchester United’s management have failed to understand Sancho following his move from Borussia Dortmund in 2021.
Former Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho insists upon the talent of Jadon Sancho, and feels that the management at Old Trafford has failed to get the best out of the forward.
Sancho moved on loan to Borussia Dortmund in January after falling out with United boss Erik ten Hag. The forward struggled to adapt to his move to Manchester, but has been instrumental in Dortmund’s run to the UEFA Champions League final.
As part of a bumper line-up of experts for TNT Sports’ coverage of the final at Wembley, Mourinho explained his previous experiences of managing talented players who have struggled to showcase their well-known talent.
“As a player, we know his talent,” Mourinho said. “We saw what he can do. What happened at Man Utd, if I look to my own history, sometimes I fail with players.
“Sometimes I couldn’t create the right empathy, I couldn’t understand the player DNA and I couldn’t help players to grow up in the right direction. In the majority of times, yes, I did it, but on some occasions I couldn’t.
“Sometimes we have to run with the experiences and try to understand the nature of the players. They have the talent but, they don’t have the mindset you want in a player so sure they will make mistakes but the manager was not able to get the best out of him.”
Mourinho added that United can not be solely to blame for Sancho’s tough transition into Premier League football. The former Chelsea boss said there are multiple factors influencing players, including agents and family.
He did suggest, however, that the Premier League club should re-evaluate their stance with focus on the qualities that alerted the forward to their attention in the first place.
“Normally it is multi-factorial,” he added. “The manager, the player, the family, the agent, the club. Looking at myself as a coach, I did many times get the best out of players and help them to be what they are in the future.
“Even being multi-factorial we are part of it, and for us as coaches with more experiences many situations are deja vu. When we get older we try to help players to go in the right direction. In this case, they try to analyse what happened at Manchester United and what they found in him.”
Sancho has scored three goals and assisted twice in 20 matches since his return to Dortmund, and has seemed rejuvenated for Edin Terzić’s outfit in their pursuit for their second Champions League trophy.
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