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Rob Dawson, Correspondent
Erik ten Hag says punishments handed out to Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho following indiscretions were different because “Jadon chose to go public.”
Rashford is available for Manchester United‘s Premier League fixture against Wolves on Thursday after clear-the-air talks with Ten Hag on Monday following the England forward’s ill-advised trip to Belfast last week.
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Sancho, meanwhile, is currently on loan at former club Borussia Dortmund after publicly questioning Ten Hag’s reasons for dropping him from the squad for a game at Arsenal in September.
Sancho was forced to train alone for more than four months while Rashford trained as normal with his teammates on Monday and Ten Hag says the differing approaches came down to Sancho’s now-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter.
“We can sort out everything internally. Jadon chose to go public,” said Ten Hag.
Rashford landed in trouble after reporting himself too ill to train on Friday following a night out in Belfast on Thursday.
He also missed training on Saturday and was absent for the 4-2 win over Newport County in the FA Cup on Sunday. Rashford is set to return to the squad against Wolves, although he may have to settle for a place on the bench.
“First of all, the players at this level need to manage themselves, that is what you can demand from the player,” said Ten Hag at a news conference on Wednesday.
“The player has to know what is good and not good. When you want to play top football, it demands a certain way of life. Always.”
Rashford and Sancho are not alone in falling foul of Ten Hag’s strict rules.
The Dutchman also fell out with Cristiano Ronaldo before his move to Al Nassr and has disciplined Argentinian teenager Alejandro Garnacho. Ten Hag, though, insists he’s not there to babysit his players.
“No, come on, we are talking about top football players,” he said.
“I don’t have to educate them any more. When you are playing for Man United, they should know.”