Solskjaer makes awkward excuse for Sancho flopping at Man Utd as Rashford ‘didn’t enjoy himself’

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he had a poor ear for Jaden Sancho’s struggles under him at Manchester United but can’t put his finger on why Marcus Rashford “didn’t enjoy himself” at Old Trafford.

Solskjaer oversaw 149 games as United manager between March 2019 and November 2021, before Erik ten Hag replaced him, and he spent most of his time pushing the club to sign Sancho, eventually convincing them to sign the winger from Borussia Dortmund for $73 million in the summer before the Norwegian.

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Templates Never caught fire at United, before temporarily switching to Chelsea and now Aston Villa and has since returned to Dortmund on loan.

And Solskjaer, who is currently out of a job by Besiktas after just 29 games, has claimed that Sancho’s hospitalization with an ear infection before arriving at United means he has failed to get the best out of him.

Talking to OverlapSolskjaer said: “We wanted to take the next step – not get away from what we had, but add something different in the final third.

“We wanted players who could break teams down, and Jaden, with his skill, link-up play and a bit of passing around the box, gave us that.

He was unlucky though.

“He was in hospital and really struggling for his first 10 days or so before he even started training with us.

“It didn’t really come up before that. So, yeah, I never really got to play with it properly, because by the time it was getting form again, I was already going out.”

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While Sancho Aston struggles to make an impact at Villa, Rashford The second half of last season flourished under Unai Emery at Villa Park and now the united loony is pulling up the trees at Barcelona, ​​with six goals and nine assists in just 16 games for the Catalans, who are sure to take up the option to make his loan permanent for £30m at the end of the season.

And Solskjaer, admitting that Rashford “didn’t enjoy himself” at United, has no reason to.

“Since I’ve been gone, I haven’t spoken to Marcus, I text him a bit but about the situation,” he said while appearing on Stick to Football.

“I don’t know what has happened in his life but you can see he is definitely enjoying it now at Barcelona.

“It looked like he didn’t enjoy himself here. I don’t think it’s just the guy united (not enjoying it), it’s everywhere.

“All the pressures, everyone is different, we don’t know what’s happened to the players when they’re grumpy in the morning, it’s the manager’s job: ‘What’s going on? I can see something wrong’.

“We don’t know what’s happened, we just want him to do well. He’s an incredible player when he’s in shape and happy, he’s got that energy.

“I go back to Erling Holland, just the energy he shows all the time, when he’s on the pitch, he shows that passion and energy, it’s minimal.

“But what is it? Life? Too many games? We don’t know but it’s got the right balance.”