'Tone deaf' - £73m Man Utd signing slammed for Marcus Rashford message as player stance 'revealed'

Manchester United loanee Jadon Sancho has caused controversy with his response to Marcus Rashford’s loan move to Premier League rivals Aston Villa.

Rashford, who left his boyhood club in January for the first time since joining the youth setup as a seven-year-old, was subbed on for forward Donyell Malen during Villa’s 2-1 FA Cup victory over Spurs.

He was praised for his impact in the final 25 minutes of the contest and almost claimed an assist for the West Midlands side by creating a one and one opportunity for Morgan Rogers to score, with a beautiful flick around the Spurs defence. Rashford also linked up well with fellow substitute and winter signing Marcos Asensio, and proved to be a handful for the opposing defence as the Villans secured progression into the fifth round.

After the victory, Rashford shared a post on Instagram thanking Villa fans for welcoming him to the club with open arms and shared a post with the caption: “Thank you for the warm welcome. Great team performance.”

Sancho, who has played alongside Rashford at Old Trafford and for England, was one of the first to congratulate the 27-year-old on his performance and used it was an opportunity to fire a subtle dig at United. He replied to Rashford’s post with the one word comment: “Freedom” with raised hands and praying emoji.

According to the Daily Mail, ‘sources close to Rashford have indicated that he doesn't appreciate being dragged into his former United and England team-mate's apparent beef with the club.’

'Tone deaf’ - Jadon Sancho comments prompts scathing criticism

TalkSport journalist Shebahn Aherne was one of a number of people to fire criticism at Jadon Sancho for his comments on social media. She said: “So he's actually commented freedom with the praise hands emoji and the prayer hands emoji. And it's been looked at from two angles. None of it really positive towards Sancho. A was Marcus Rashford, and Sancho really that ill treated by Manchester United. And B is Sancho tone deaf for this comment.”

Fellow presenter Jeff Stelling said: “I mean, it sounds like they're being locked up in Guantanamo Bay, doesn't it? You know where, in actual fact, they've been paid a small fortune for playing for one of the, if not the biggest football club in the world, or for not playing at one of the biggest football clubs in the world. I think, sometimes, forgive me, sometimes footballers lose a little, kind of little Yeah, little perspective that they're not quite in touch with reality.”

Aherne elaborated: "When you go in the comments and you say something like freedom, where he's been paid 300 grand a week and actually has had so much investment from the club to go into him as a player, and not only Rashford, but from Jadon Sancho, they went to Dortmund and paid a huge fee thinking healing the next big thing at Manchester United. And he has the audacity to go and talk about being free as if it was an issue for him to wear the Manchester United shirt.

“It absolutely winds me right up. Our fans and I jumped on social media this morning to go into the comments section, and sure enough, it's still there. You would have thought after it hit headlines, after 10 seconds of being posted, maybe I got this wrong, but it's not a good look. And considering he's not absolutely lighting things up, tearing up trees at Chelsea, he should have a look at himself.”

Has Jadon Sancho left Man Utd?

Jadon Sancho, who is currently out on loan at Chelsea, commands a wage of around £300,000 a week after signing for United from Borussia Dortmund in a £73m deal back in 2021.

Mail Sport understands the Stamford Bridge side pay the bulk of his wages at £250,000 a week, with the Red Devils paying the remaining £50,000. Given that he joined Chelsea in late August and the deal runs until June 30, that works out at around £2m.

Technically speaking, he remains a United player although there is an obligation for Chelsea to make the deal permanent for between £20-25m over the summer, which is roughly a third of what the team had paid to sign him under Ole Gunner Solskjaer. Sancho has had a mixed spell at Chelsea this season and has registered two goals and four assists in 18 league matches.