Erik ten Hag issues updates on Antony and Jadon Sancho after Man Utd statement

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has been fielding questions about Antony and Jadon Sancho at his latest press conference.

United are short of options in a number of areas due to a growing injury list, but injuries are not the only factor at play. Antony had been on mutually-agreed leave amid allegations of violence towards women , while Jadon Sancho has been kept away from first-team training due to a public fallout with Ten Hag which hasn’t been resolved weeks on.

There was a fresh twist on Friday with United confirming in a statement that Antony would return to first-team training on Saturday.

Antony has denied the allegations and has been cooperative with investigations, and given no restrictions nor charges have been placed on the winger neither in Brazil or the UK, United have decided that he should return to work after a period of leave.

Ten Hag was asked about the situation in his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Crystal Palace, and he responded: “We make the statement so I refer to the statement, everything has been made clear in the statement. No, I don’t think it’s a distraction. We will focus on the games. He will do as well.”

Asked again about Antony’s situation and his fitness, he continued: “I think we explained it in the statement, so I will refer to it. On Saturday, he will be back in training, so tomorrow. I have to see, but I think, yeah [he’s fit].”

As for Sancho, he remains away from the group and will remain uninvolved in first-team fixtures seemingly until he apologises to Ten Hag for his public response to being called out by the Dutchman for a lack of quality in training.

Ten Hag said of the situation on Friday: “Many of you ask me this so often, these questions, and I have said everything. I said everything.”