By the end, the major point of interest in Carragher’s interview was the way it resembled an AI simulation designed to capture in a single haunting tableau the energies and noises-off that have disoriented Sancho’s career. Picture bot: create an image that shows Jadon Sancho being pawed at by an excitable media personality raving over a high-grade restorative performance, while unseen voices guffaw off camera and Sancho looks as if he really would rather be anywhere else at this precise moment. Yep. That ought to do it.
The most notable question came from Peter Schmeichel, also present on punditry duties, who asked about Sancho’s hopes of an England recall for the Euros. Sancho made the right kind of noises before wisely retreating into each-game-as-it-comes territory.
Two things derailed Sancho’s progress. First, overblown expectation on the back of some sparkling performances. And second, throwing a rather gentle soul into the fug of rage and toxic engagement circulating around the England team.
It would be a bizarre response to the first signs of a recovery to suggest what he really needs right now is for both of these things to be repeated. How about we all just allow him to be good for a bit, to bloom in his own way, to remember how to be happy. Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel, then goes back two years later to do it all over again?
Declaring Sancho fixed would be illogical for other reasons. His performance against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday was wonderfully sustained and incisive. He just kept on going forward, doing it in that beautifully bespoke way, all quick feet and creative angles. He looked lighter in every sense.
But it is also delicate progress. Sancho has three goals and one assist in 17 appearances for Dortmund. Do these numbers demand an England recall? Do England actually need him? The answer to both of these is no. Sancho is an exceptional talent. But one thing England do have is a superabundance of inside-forwards. Southgate has Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer playing on the right for their clubs. Anthony Gordon and Jarrod Bowen have goals, form and energy behind them. This is not a risk that needs to be taken.
Little wonder he struggled in the chaos at United, which is the opposite of this, a team trying to find a way to play, kitted out with a zombie squad of afterthoughts and outtakes. There is no sign of a Sancho-friendly structure being winched into place. This is a very specific kind of attacking player. Sometimes the fit will be right. Sometimes it won’t.
Sancho’s story is not a tragedy or a mystery. There is nothing unusual about a young footballer making a duff career move. Players and managers have always fallen out. The ballad of Jadon Sancho is more a story of how things are processed now, the peeled eyeball obsession with every detail of the sport, the obsession with cinematic young talent. The use of social media has made this falling-out more painful and less resolvable. Insane overspending has made a failing move an unavoidable big deal.
