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Jadon Sancho has finally completed his move to Manchester United, putting an end to a transfer saga that has raged on for more than a year. The club have already revealed that only a few formalities are yet to be completed before the England winger becomes an official Red Devils player.
While a journey from the blue half of Manchester to the red half doesn’t particularly require a detour via Borussia Dortmund, both teams will be glad Jadon Sancho chose that path. Manchester United are rumored to be paying around £73m for the 21-year-old, a small share of which will go to Manchester City as well. Sancho’s stint in Germany has unveiled a range of attacking talent that is raring to take the Premier League by storm come the start of the 2021-22 season.
There are obvious differences in the way the Bundesliga and the Premier League are structured. The latter offers more top teams and the quality of players is generally viewed to be higher in England. But the renewed interest in Jadon Sancho comes from his reasonable similarity with the English setting and the hope that he can replicate his Bundesliga form on the shores he has graced before.
So why have the Red Devils repeatedly courted Jadon Sancho? What exactly is it that he brings to Manchester United that they don’t presently have?
Jadon Sancho is excellent at carrying the ball forward
Manchester United have some excellent players who are extremely capable of moving the ball forward. With Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood and, when required, Daniel James, alongside Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba from midfield, their ball progression levels are already quite high.
However, Manchester United have often needed this movement forward to come from the center of their left, with comparatively less attacking impetus from the right. Jadon Sancho offers an exciting combination of width and dribbling that United sorely need on the other flank to compensate for Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s reduced attacking potential from right-back.
A comparison of all of United’s forwards from their best individual seasons points to why United could really do with Jadon Sancho. Anthony Martial, Daniel James, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford experienced their most productive top-flight seasons in the 2019-20 Premier League season. Edinson Cavani, on the other hand, was lethal in the 2017-18 Ligue 1 season for Paris Saint-Germain. Jadon Sancho’s numbers for this analysis are from his 2019-20 Bundesliga season.
(Note: Horizontal bars show the player’s Carries into the Penalty Area per 90 and the vertical line is their Dribbles Completed per 90)
As is evident from the graph, Jadon Sancho is clearly ahead of all the players in this list in Carries into the Penalty area and Dribbles Completed per 90 minutes. The 21-year-old averaged 1.85 and 3.66 respectively on both counts. The next best player on the Carries count is Daniel James with 1.65. Marcus Rashford follows Jadon Sancho in the Dribbles count with 2.45 dribbles per 90.
Mason Greenwood’s numbers (1.23 carries and 1.43 dribbles) are excellent for his first season in the Premier League, while Anthony Martial's output in these parameters is decent as well. Edinson Cavani scores low on both counts, but that is predominantly due to PSG deploying him as a target man.
Jadon Sancho could add tremendous creativity to Manchester United
Jadon Sancho’s creativity has always been one of his greatest traits. The Englishman recorded outstanding numbers for Dortmund, bagging 50 goals and 64 assists in 137 matches across all competitions.
Manchester United have often struggled in recent seasons against teams which set up with multiple players behind the ball. The low-block has seen them drop points in fixtures against sides in the bottom half of the Premier League, though they have an excellent record against some of the top clubs that play more on the front foot. In this sense, Jadon Sancho’s creative abilities will be invaluable for the side.
(Note: Vertical Axis deals with Shot-Creating Actions and Horizontal Axis involves Goal-Creating Actions)
As defined by FBRef, Shot-Creating Actions or SCAs are the two offensive actions directly leading to a shot, such as passes, dribbles and drawing fouls. Goal-Creating Actions or GCAs are two similar offensive actions directly leading to a goal.
Jadon Sancho averaged a fantastic 4.92 SCAs and 1.26 GCAs per 90 in the 2019-20 Bundesliga. As the graph displays, this is miles ahead of any other Manchester United forward in their best league seasons. The second-best SCAs come from Martial with 3.26 per 90. As for the GCAs, both he and Rashford recorded a commendable 0.65 per 90 which is what made them a lethal duo in the 2019-20 Premier League season.
Once again, Cavani is slightly hard done by due to the system he played in at PSG, recording 2.29 SCAs and 0.63 GCAs per 90. The rest of United’s forwards, while posting admirable numbers, still find themselves behind Jadon Sancho with respect to creativity.
The Red Devils have often been dependent on Rashford and Bruno Fernandes from midfield to spark some life into their attack. Last season, both the Englishman and the Portuguese clearly suffered from fatigue and as a result, an evident fall in performance levels.
Rashford also carried an injury towards the end of the season, which he still seems to be suffering from while turning out for England at Euro 2020. The likes of Martial, James and Greenwood weren’t at their 2019-20 levels for much of the 2020-21 campaign, though the latter two did occasionally sparkle across the season. The introduction of Jadon Sancho could take the weight off of Rashford and Fernandes as the source point of every attacking move.
Apart from parameters like the SCAs and GCAs that help create goals, Jadon Sancho also delivers an excellent final product. He boasts excellent vision and is fantastic with his passes.
(Note: The darker the shade, the more Passes under Pressure per 90. Below the names of the players are their Key Passes per 90)
The graph above shows how good Jadon Sancho is while dealing with the ball under pressure. Not only does the Englishman boast pace, he also has a tremendous eye for picking out teammates in advanced positions.
Sancho averaged 2.64 Key Passes per 90, which is substantially larger than Rashford in second with 1.12. Additionally, the ex-Dortmund man also recorded 12.32 Passes under Pressure per 90 in the 2019-20 season. This is a phenomenal number for a 21-year-old in a physical league. James is second in this chart with 7.20 Passes under Pressure per 90.
These numbers go a long way in showing that there is a very obvious sense of variety in this Manchester United side. But Jadon Sancho brings a key component to the fore alongside his creativity, i.e., consistency. Manchester United have massively benefitted from Fernandes’s renewed run of good displays upon being signed in January 2020. If Sancho can replicate that kind of form in the 2021-22 season, the Red Devils could very well end their incessantly long trophy drought.
Shooting
Jadon Sancho’s shooting numbers certainly face some competition in Manchester, but they will still be valuable for this United side. With Rashford, Cavani and Greenwood, Manchester United already have three forwards with fantastic shooting abilities. Sancho's role in this side is bound to be one that is oriented towards creativity, but his performances from the 2019-20 season show he is a more than capable shooter.
(Note: Horizontal axis is the players’ Goals per Shot on Target per 90, while the Vertical Axis is their Average Shooting Distance in Yards)
When it comes to shooting from distance, Rashford is clearly head and shoulders above everyone else (19.6 yards from goal on average) on this chart. The Englishman’s long-range efforts have also led to some memorable goals – the FA Cup free-kick against Chelsea springs to mind. Jadon Sancho’s shooting from distance is the second-lowest here, only ahead of Cavani, who has been the colloquial "fox-in-the-box" throughout his career. However, it is worth noting that Sancho’s Goals per Shot on Target is quite high at an exceptional 0.61.
Cavani follows in second place with 0.51. This is one of the reasons why the Uruguayan’s arrival brought so much cheer and relief to fans of United. Cavani’s 17-goal haul last season was a welcome sign for a side that has established a reputation for creating chances in abundance, but not taking them.
This is quite evident from the likes of Rashford and Martial in their very best seasons so far, averaging only 0.29 and 0.45 goals per shot on target, respectively. Greenwood, on the other hand, had an excellent 0.50 goals per shot on target in the 2019-20 Premier League, meaning exactly half his shots on target ended up in the back of the net. If Cavani and Greenwood's numbers offer encouragement, Jadon Sancho's figures are simply ridiculous.
Not only does Jadon Sancho’s recruitment massively improve Manchester United’s creativity in transitions, it also provides them with a player who can nick a vital goal when required.
As far as statistics go, Jadon Sancho seems to be the final piece of the jigsaw in the Red Devils’ attack at the moment. He will enter Old Trafford at the start of 2020-21 with the same dreams that countless fans across the world have harbored since the Ferguson era.
This is one of hope; hope that Jadon Sancho's entry will reignite this Manchester United side and take them back to the cusp of glory once again.
Also read: David James' coulmn - Euro 2020: 5 players who deserve more playing time
