Manchester United legend Gary Neville has revealed his opinion that fans have gotten ‘carried away’ with their praise of Jadon Sancho, assuring that the 20-year-old cannot yet be considered a top player.
Dortmund standout
English international Sancho is widely-regarded as one of the finest young talents on the planet.
Since departing Manchester City for Borussia Dortmund in 2017, the electric winger has gone on to light up the Bundesliga, with a near-unrivalled combination of touch, pace, ability to beat his man and, crucially, a finished product.
The 2018/19 season saw Sancho rack up 13 goals and a hefty 19 assists across all competitions.
The current campaign, meanwhile, has seen the attacker’s production reach even more impressive heights.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic brought football to a halt across Europe, the 11-time capped international had already notched 17 goals, to go along with 19 assists.
Man United links
This level of consistent excellence has inevitably resulted in rumours that Sancho has been added to the wishlists of a number of Europe’s top clubs.
🔴 Manchester United?
🔵 Chelsea?
🔴 Liverpool?
🇪🇸 Barcelona?
🇩🇪 Bayern?Where could Jadon Sancho end up this summer?
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 13, 2020
To this point, though, the outfit most persistently-touted as a potential destination have been Manchester United.
The Athletic recently revealed that Sancho is ‘very open’ to the prospect of a move to Old Trafford, with the Dortmund starlet said to favour a return to England over testing his talents in La Liga.
DORTMUND, GERMANY – DECEMBER 07: Jadon Sancho of Borussia Dortmund celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal which is later disallowed by VAR during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and Fortuna Duesseldorf at Signal Iduna Park on December 07, 2019 in Dortmund, Germany. (Photo by Martin Rose/Bongarts/Getty Images)
‘Carried away’
As outlined above, however, one individual who feels that Manchester United, and any other clubs interested in Sancho for that matter, may need to take a step back to reassess the hype surrounding the wide-man, is Gary Neville.
Speaking this weekend, Red Devils legend Neville opened up on the talents possessed by his fellow countryman.
And while the former full-back was keen to assure that he views Sancho as ‘a talent’, Neville also called for a reality check on the part of those comparing the 20-year-old to some of world football’s top players:
‘To be honest, Jadon Sancho in this moment of time… we get carried away.’
‘I think we’ve got an amazing group of young English players. But we have to consider the other players that exist, Brazilian players, Argentine players, German players, Belgium players – we are not the only country in the world.’
‘That’s how it was as an England player and an England coach, ‘we have a golden generation’. You say golden generation and obviously, it was Becks (David Beckham), Stevie [Gerrard], Frank [Lampard], [Wayne] Rooney, but then Brazil had Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, what’s that… platinum?’
Neville continued:
‘You say we have a golden generation but you forget these other countries have world stars. It’s like, ‘hang on a second’. Argentina have Aguero, Higuain, Messi, Di Maria, how good are they compared to Jadon Sancho? Jadon Sancho is nowhere near these players.’
‘Let’s be clear, Jadon Sancho is a talent, but we can’t start putting him in the category with world stars who are winning European cups and World Cups regularly, season in, season out.’
Quotes via Sky Sports, cited by Goal
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