When it became clear Manchester United had no use for Jadon Sancho this season, his eyes must have lit up when Aston Villa came calling.
A move to the Midlands seemingly made sense, with a vacancy having opened at left wing in Unai Emery’s starting line-up.
That role had been previously occupied by Marcus Rashford, Sancho’s just-about Manchester United teammate who breathed new life into his career while on loan at Villa for the second half of last season.
And Sancho, on loan at Chelsea himself last term, not only saw this revival up close but got the Villa seal of approval from Rashford before joining them on loan on deadline day, revealing he called the club “a family and you feel that friendly environment”.
This environment appeared particularly inviting for superstar loanees. A welcoming setting that promised redemption and European football, with Champions League winner Marco Asensio joining Rashford in enjoying his half-season spell at Villa Park.
It was win-win for Villa and both players. Asensio and Rashford added to Villa’s firepower during a period where they reached the Champions League quarter-finals and then secured promising summer moves. Rashford’s loan at Barcelona, with the option to make it permanent, is off to a bright start, while Asensio joined Fenerbahce where he has already scored four goals in eight Super Lig games.
Who can blame Sancho for wanting a slice of that?
Sancho’s own restoration project however is yet to get off the ground, with his start to life at Villa proving only marginally better than Harvey Elliott’s – the winger who has been frozen out by Emery ahead of a possible January return to his parent club Liverpool.
For Sancho, one factor keeping him out of the Villa XI is something arguably Emery and the club’s supporters could not have predicted before the season started. Another resurgence in the form of Emiliano Buendia.
The Argentine must have thought his Villa days were numbered after going out on loan to Bayer Leverkusen in January. This further diminished the prospect of the 28-year-old wrestling back a place he had lost in 2023-24 due to a devastating ACL injury, which saw him miss all of Emery’s first full campaign in charge.
He was even free to leave Villa in the summer, but was determined to stay and fight after holding a meeting with Emery. This has transpired into one of the stories of the Premier League campaign so far, and has contributed towards Sancho being the sideshow as a result.
Buendia has scored four goals, including October’s Premier League goal of the month at Tottenham Hotspur, and has started the most games on left wing (six) for Villa since deadline day.
By contrast, Sancho is yet to start in the Premier League and has only made Villa’s XI three times so far: once in the EFL Cup and twice in the Europa League.
Sancho has made four league appearances off the bench but it yet to play a match’s worth of minutes in the Premier League, clocking just 88 of his 336 in total.
And with the other factor being Emery’s desire to play both Morgan Rogers and John McGinn – one at No 10 and the other on either wing – it begs the question of what now for Sancho, who has already approached several crossroads in his career.
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With no road back to United, re-signing for Borussia Dortmund has been mooted in Germany.
And that U-turn could be the best direction for Sancho to go in given the red light he is currently at, for barring injury he will continue playing second fiddle to Buendia for the remainder of his time at Villa – meaning those eyes that lit up less than three months ago will now be looking longingly elsewhere.
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