Manchester United have suffered a double injury blow ahead of the start of the 2024/25 season, with Rasmus Hojlund and Leny Yoro going down with injuries in the pre-season friendly fixture against Arsenal last month. Yoro has undergone successful surgery for a foot injury that will sideline him for up to three months, while Hojlund’s hamstring issue will keep him out of action for six weeks.
In Hojlund’s absence during the opening weeks of the new Premier League season, Erik ten Hag will have to rely on summer signing Joshua Zirkzee to lead the Manchester United attack. However, with Zirkzee recently returning from holidays and joining his teammates at the Carrington, he lacks match fitness.
As a potential remedy to the striker’s problems, Erik ten Hag is banking on Jadon Sancho. Having returned from a successful loan spell with Borussia Dortmund earlier this summer, Jadon Sancho and Ten Hag have mended their relationship and decided to move on from last September’s public falling out that led to the former being frozen out from the first team until January.
Upon working on his fitness after returning from holiday, the England international travelled with the Man United for the US pre-season tour. In their final pre-season game, he notably led the line for the Red Devils in the 3-0 defeat to arch-rivals Liverpool in South Carolina.
With the Community Shield against Manchester City just a couple of days away—with Hojlund out injured and Zirkzee still working his way to match fitness—Ten Hag was asked whether Sancho could start the season as a makeshift No 9. The Man United boss gave a glowing response on Sancho’s versatility in his pre-match press conference as quoted from The United Stand on X.
“Jadon can play across the whole frontline, he’s an option for more than one position and it depends on how you set up the team, you can look at your own tactics, opponents that fit the best and Jadon had some abilities you can use in a game, tactics and the next game”
Given Sancho has experimented as a false 9 in the US pre-season tour, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him spearhead the Man United attack against Man City in the FA Community Shield final on Saturday. The England international failed to make an impact against Liverpool in the final friendly game of the US tour, but Ten Hag feels the player’s versatility could benefit his side in many ways when Hojlund and Zirkzee aren’t available.
That being said, however, one can’t help but think Man United look undercooked in forward areas heading into the 2024/25 season.
