Jadon Sancho now living up to potential at Man Utd after £73m transfer with stats up across the board in last five games
MANCHESTER UNITED star Jadon Sancho is starting to figure things out at Old Trafford.
The England winger endured a difficult start to the season, failing to score a single goal under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But he has shown promising signs in recent matches, having seemed to gain confidence under Ralf Rangnick.
And the stats back this theory up, with his numbers improved across the board.
Sancho’s goals per game stat is up from 0.14 across his first 23 matches to 0.4 over his last five.
His assists per game are also up across the same period, from registering none at all to now averaging 0.4 in each match.
The 21-year-old is now creating two chances per game, compared to 1.8 previously.
His shooting volume is also up, from 1.15 a game to 2.2 in each contest, while his attempts on target have risen from an average of 0.36 to 1.
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A sign of his renewed confidence is the fact that he appears to be taking on his man more.
Before he was attempting 3.53 dribbles per match, compared to 5.4 now.
He is completing 2.4 in each game, up from 1.58 before.
Interestingly, the statistics show that he is down on passes and touches.
It suggests that Sancho is now being more direct and productive with less volume.
The numbers indicate a huge rise in confidence, that he is now playing it less safe when he holds possession.
Sancho will be desperate to add to his overall tallies as the season reaches its business end.
So far he has scored just four goals for the Red Devils, while grabbing two assists in 28 appearances.
KEANE PRAISE
In a signal of how much he’s improved, even hard-to-please Roy Keane was singing his praises after the 4-2 victory over Leeds.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “He’s grown in confidence and is getting used to the United way.
“He’s getting braver and showing a bit more courage.”
With Sancho scoring 9/10 in SunSport’s player ratings, Keane added: “We talk about what he’d done at Dortmund, playing for Dortmund and Man United is completely different. Dortmund are nowhere near as big as Man United.
“It’s those little details that come from confidence and getting that swagger and it’s nice to see because he was getting heavily criticised.”
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