Jose Mourinho reveals who is to blame in standoff between Erik ten Hag and Jadon Sancho

Jose Mourinho insisted the rift between Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag and Jadon Sancho is a ‘multi-factorial’ problem.

Sancho is due to play in Saturday’s Champions League final for Borussia Dortmund against Real Madrid having rejoined BVB on loan from United in January.

The winger was frozen out of Ten Hag’s first-team setup in September having reacted angrily on social media to public criticism from his manager and refused to apologise.

Speaking to TNT Sports, Mourinho – a former United manager himself – spoke of Sancho’s redemption back at Dortmund and came to his defence, claiming Ten Hag did not ‘get the best out of him’.

“As a player, we know his talent. We saw what he can do, there are no doubts about it,” Mourinho said.

“What happened at Man United…if I look to my own history, sometimes I failed with players. Sometimes I couldn’t create the right empathy, I couldn’t understand the player’s DNA and I couldn’t help players grow up in the right direction. The majority of times, yes, I did it but in some occasions I couldn’t.

“I think sometimes we have to learn with experiences, which I tried always to do, to try to understand the nature of the player. Sometimes they have the talent but don’t have the mindset you want from a player.

“For sure, the kid [Sancho] made mistakes, that’s for sure, but for sure his manager was not able to get the best out of him.”

When asked if Sancho was perhaps failed by United, Mourinho replied: “Normally, it’s multi-factorial. Normally, it’s not the manager, the player, the family, the agent, the club.

“But looking at myself as a coach, I did many times get the best out of young players and helped them to be what they were in the future. Other times I failed. For sure, even if it’s multi-factorial, we are part of it. For us coaches with more experiences and many situations of deja vu as we get older, we try to help the players in the right direction.

“I think in this case, they look at it and for sure they try to analyse what happened at Man United and what happened and what he found in Dortmund.”