Smiling, playing, assisting: Sancho is back in his happy place (2024)

As he walked through the bowels of Darmstadt’s Stadion am Bollenfalltor, there was something different about Jadon Sancho.

New haircut? Nope. Put on or lost a bit of weight? No, it’s not that. Wait, got it — he was smiling.

Having just, well, played an actual football match, his first since August, Sancho had good reason to be displaying his pearly whites. He had ended an almost five-month exile, one that started with an ill-advised social media post and concluded with a loan move back to Borussia Dortmund (via the purgatory of several months training — and eating — away from the first team).

This is a player who has been capped 23 times by England and who cost more than £70million ($89m) when he joined Manchester United in the summer of 2021. So much was expected of a young star who looked likely to shine in the Premier League given his obvious attributes and his outstanding potential but two and a half years, 82 appearances, 12 goals and six assists later, Sancho is deemed, for the time being at least, surplus to requirements at Old Trafford.

That is not the case at Dortmund, where it is not just his statistical record (138 appearances, 50 goals, 65 assists) that wildly differs from his time at United.

Whatever the reasoning and the blame and the rights and wrongs of his failed spell in England, there is no doubt that Sancho looks happy with Dortmund.

It is a word he used twice in a brief post-match pitchside interview. “Ever since I’ve come back it’s felt like home and I’m just happy to be on the pitch again,” he said.

“Just to be happy again,” Sancho added of his personal goals for his Dortmund loan. “Just to be back on the pitch, to help the team, get them back in the top three and qualify for the Champions League for next year.”

If he does that, or helps them progress in this season’s competition (they face PSV Eindhoven in the round of 16) Sancho’s return will have been a bit of a masterstroke for struggling Dortmund, who were winless in six games in December and are fifth in the league table.

For Sancho, the next few months are a vital period in his burgeoning career as he seeks solace and home comforts in a bid to rediscover his form, burnish his flagging reputation and relaunch his career.

First stop: Darmstadt. The worst team in the Bundesliga, with just two victories to their name this season. But Dortmund are pretty bad too and the first half, with Sancho watching from the bench, is a painful catalogue of bad passing and even worse finishing.

Dortmund look utterly devoid of ideas and inspiration and it is lowly Darmstadt who have more possession in the first half, a damning indictment of a team that, in theory, is dripping with technical quality.

The one moment of excellence comes from Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, English, ex-Manchester City, 19-year-old pretender to Sancho’s throne, with a dazzling run and pass to Julian Brandt who beats onrushing goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen.

Sancho walks back from a warm-up, snood covering his mouth (yes, it is cold in Hesse, so cold that you are hesitant to go to the bathroom in case you generate a special kind of icicle). He walks back to the bench with Marco Reus and Giovanni Reyna, but the young Darmstadt fans in the home end are not bothered about them. “Sanchooo”, one boy shouts and the player responds with a friendly wave and a thumbs up.

Dortmund’s malaise continues after the break — they have had just six shots to Darmstadt’s five — so, seven minutes into the half, coach Edin Terzic has seen enough and calls for Sancho surprisingly early.

Bynoe-Gittens is withdrawn and Sancho takes up the departed forward’s position on the right of a front three, in front of full-back Thomas Meunier and to the right of striker Niclas Fullkrug.

The first thing you notice is how Sancho is full of running, Road Runner style, be it to sprint back and help out Meunier near Dortmund’s corner flag, or making runs into the box to try to get on the end of crosses and cutbacks, or darting beyond the Darmstadt back line in the hope of a through ball.

There is visible energy and enthusiasm, if not quite the touch or the execution that Sancho understandably lacks after so long without playing. He is rusty, for sure, but in what clearly looks like an unhappy Dortmund camp, with players and coaches flailing their arms around so often the scene could be mistaken for a semaphore convention, Sancho makes an impact.

His shining moment arrives in the 71st minute when, in a trademark Sancho move circa 2018-21, he shows himself on the right, takes the resulting pass, slots it across goal and there is Reus, his old buddy, for an easy finish. Goal, huddle, fist-bump. Sancho is back.

Frankly, Dortmund are awful at times, suffering from a disjointed forward line not playing in tandem, not spotting each other’s runs and lacking confidence and conviction. Sancho demands more of his team-mates — he is mouthy, he asks for passes to be played sooner, he questions why there appears to be no midfield to speak of (Dortmund are essentially playing a 4-2-4 with the ball and their build-up play is horrible).

He is buzzy, he is full of vim, he looks hungry and like a man with a point to prove. Dortmund should benefit from this, especially when he is fully fit.

It all makes you wonder if there is not a huge Premier League team struggling for form that could do with a confident, positive, pacy forward comfortable on the right or left flank and adept at breaking through a defensive line to provide a plethora of goals and assists. Just saying.

If he picks up where he left off in 2021 and produces goals and assists in the coming months, it will merely add a thick layer of complexity to the Sancho riddle. Yes, some players struggle to replicate their Bundesliga form in the Premier League (Kai Havertz and Timo Werner are recent examples) but Sancho has all the attributes to succeed.

So why can’t United get a tune out of him? How has he ended up a £70million outcast? How much blame should he shoulder himself?

And yes, you could say this was only Darmstadt, but United have struggled against Luton Town, Burnley, Sheffield United and other teams struggling at the bottom of the table. They could have done with this Sancho on those days.

Anyway, United, Erik ten Hag, the future — for Sancho, it all feels a world away right now. The future can wait.

“He has met a wall for the first time — it exists in every career,” Terzic says. “We know what Jadon can do. Now it’s about creating a new successful time. He’s ready — he showed us that in the first few days.”

“We shouldn’t expect miracles, the boy hasn’t played for seven or eight months,” Reus says. “I’m very, very pleased that he found his way back to us.”

If there are questions about Sancho’s hunger and desire, this 35-minute cameo was a good starting point for a riposte. Nothing incredible, but a good start.

As he heads out of the stadium, Sancho poses for a selfie with a young fan before he and Bynoe-Gittens walk off together. Sancho rejects the opportunity for a chat with the written media. “I’m sorry, I’m not allowed,” he says, which seems like news to Dortmund.

At this juncture, the old cliche of Sancho letting his football do the talking feels apt. That feels like a smart course of action, as this stalled career looks for a timely rejuvenation.

(Top photo: Alex Grimm/Getty Images)