Jadon Sancho reveals key Dortmund man planted seed for his return prior to feud with Erik ten Hag

Jadon Sancho has revealed that Borussia Dortmund teammate Marco Reus planted the seed for his return to the club when they met in a pre-season friendly.

The 23-year-old has enjoyed his first minutes of competitive football since August 26 after making a temporary move to his former side on January 11.

It came after a notorious feud with Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag after he criticised the player’s performances in training, which led to him being dropped for a crucial Premier League clash with Arsenal. Sancho took to social media to rebuff the claims with a written statement shared to X, formerly Twitter, deeming himself a scapegoat and saying his manager’s comments were inaccurate.

Refusing to apologise for his remarks, Sancho was immediately dropped from the first-team and exiled from the senior squad’s facilities.

He marked his comeback in black and yellow with an assist for Reus to round off a 3-0 away win over Darmstadt and on Saturday, drew a penalty to extend Dortmund’s lead in a 4-0 victory against Koln. Sancho will make his first reappearance at the Signal Iduna Park on Sunday.

Sancho reveals Reus’ plea

The winger divulged how Reus expressed his desire for the pair to reunite in the summer when the two sides came head-to-head in Las Vegas. Sancho told Dortmund club media (cited by Goal Germany): “There’s a video clip from Las Vegas where he told me to go back to Dortmund. He told me: ‘Whenever you’re ready, I’ll be here.’”