Sancho given brutal reality check by ex-Man Utd star who clashed with Fergie
Former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov knows what it's like to fall out with the manager at Old Trafford, and the Bulgarian has called upon Jadon Sancho to end his stand-off with Erik ten Hag by issuing an apology.
Berbatov fell out with Ferguson over his omission from the squad for the 2011 Champions League final, leaving the club a year later after a decision he said was "hard to take". However, he also saw Wayne Rooney return to the manager's good graces after the England striker's own issues with Ferguson.
Sancho has been exiled from first-team facilities as the fallout from his war of words continues. The winger responded to Ten Hag's comments about his omission against Arsenal by claiming he was made a scapegoat, but Berbatov believes the onus is on the former Dortmund star to bury the hatchet with Ten Hag.
"The manager makes the decision and Sancho needs to apologise to Ten Hag publicly or privately and understand his mistake the right way," Berbatov told Betfair. "Once he's done that, Sancho needs to earn his place in the team and the only way to do that is by training harder and playing well when the chance arises.
"Sometimes a player - and I hope this isn't the case for Sancho - who takes this long to resolve conflict has overestimated his own value to the club," he added. Still, Berbatov suggested the situation wasn't the same as that which ended up with Cristiano Ronaldo leaving the club in 2022.
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"When it's Ronaldo, it's different as he's achieved everything," he added. "I was at the club when Wayne Rooney had a fall out with the manager, and they sorted things out. I think Sancho is overestimating his importance. He's not won that many trophies with them. It's a different situation."
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Premier League top scorer Dimitar Berbatov was left out for the 2011 Championa League final (PA)Berbatov was Man Utd's leading man in the 2010-11 season, scoring 20 Premier League goals to tie with Manchester City star Carlos Tevez as the competition's top scorer. There was no place for him even on the seven-man bench for the Champions League final, though, with manager Ferguson instead opting for Michael Owen.
The gamble didn't pay off, with United losing 3-1 to Barcelona and striker Owen remaining on the bench throughout. Berbatov admitted he wasn't happy with Ferguson's decision, but later made up with the Scot.
“It was not pleasant, it was not good for me because as I was the leading goalscorer of my team and the league and I was so confident," Berbatov told talkSPORT in 2020. “When you’re scoring goals you feel that you can shoot from anywhere and score, so to be left out, it didn’t feel right.
“Then as time goes past you start to look back and try to understand the decision. I know it was not only me, and other players in the team were in the same position in that particular final, and sometimes sacrifices needed to be made and the job of the manager is not easy.
“I can see how it was difficult for Sir Alex to tell me that news, and in the end I still think it wasn’t the right decision, but it’s in the past. When you grow up and you start to see things from a different perspective you can still not agree with the decision because it was not the right one in my opinion, but from the manger’s point of view it wasn’t easy for him to choose what to play."
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