It has taken a long time for Jadon Sancho to get the chance to play at Etihad Stadium.
His two FA Youth Cup final appearances for Manchester City were at the nearby City Football Academy, he never played a first-team game for the club and was injured when Borussia Dortmund were beaten in the away leg of last season’s Champions League quarter-final.
When the 21-year-old signed for Manchester United for £73m last July, Sancho would have hoped his return to City would be the backdrop to a key match in the title race.
To some extent, it is. But only because it is a game City cannot afford to lose as Liverpool breathe down their necks at the top of the Premier League.
For United fans, it is a game to watch from behind the back of the sofa given the contemptuous manner in which they were dismissed by City at Old Trafford in a one-sided contest last November.
But for Sancho, it is still a game to relish. It has taken a bit of time but finally he is starting to show why United paid all that money for him - and why Pep Guardiola was still grumbling about the winger’s exit to Germany 18 months after it happened.
Ralf finally gets his man
Although it was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who led the chase for Sancho, Ralf Rangnick’s arrival as interim United boss following the Norwegian’s sacking in November was not a bad thing for the England man.
In his former role as technical director at RB Leipzig, Rangnick tried to sign Sancho when it became obvious the youngster would be leaving City in 2017.
Evidently, Rangnick failed. But through his research and personal observations, he knew enough about the teenager to be aware he was a special talent.
Sancho proved it at Dortmund. Thirty-eight goals and 45 assists in 104 Bundesliga appearances propelled him to 23 England caps and a place in Gareth Southgate’s squad at Euro 2020.
United fans looked forward to the impact he would make at Old Trafford. Initially though, there were struggles. Rangnick is not overly surprised by that.
He reasons that when he moved to Germany, Sancho was an unknown. There was little pressure on him from Dortmund fans because he had no history, other than a £10m price tag, and opponents were not aware of the player’s strengths, his exceptional pace and balance.
Sancho is not under the radar anymore. He is a high-profile international player with a reputation and massive transfer fee to live up to. Rangnick feels, psychologically, it is reasonable he should take time to adjust, even if Sancho is less forgiving of himself.
“I am hard on myself,” he said in a recent interview with the BBC. “When I play bad I am angry.
“You do need time when you come to a new club. It is only recently I have started to play like I did at Dortmund.
“If I keep getting goals and assists I would be happy, but I wouldn’t say it has been a great season for me because I wish I had done it earlier on.”
Freedom — the key to getting Sancho back to his best
Rangnick immediately saw evidence of Sancho’s quality on United’s Carrington training ground, although the task of transferring those skills onto the pitch in a competitive environment took a little longer.
But February proved to be a good month, with a couple of goals to go with his two assists at Leeds. Sancho is becoming a threat again and has the chance to play a major part in the title race this weekend, even if it might not be in the way he would have liked.
Although his stats indicate he is equally effective on either flank, the majority of his goals and assists in Germany came from his right foot. He has indicated a preference to play on the left, so he can cut inside, although it is probably true to say his actual starting position is not as important as his state of mind.
In an interview with Manchester United’s own media, he referenced his time as a junior at Watford, where he was coached by current United head of academy Nick Cox, for the key to his best performances.
“Watford was a lot of fun. I was happy when I was there and I had a lot of freedom when I was playing,” he said. “That’s what makes me happy and makes me the best player I can be, when I’m just free, doing what I love.”
What Sancho loves is beating opponents in tight situations.
It is a talent he honed as a cage footballer in his youth. “It teaches you how to get out of tight areas and beat a man one-on-one,” he said. “It teaches you the skills you need to get past players.”
‘I want to be the best’
Sancho jokes that he passes the ball more now than he did at Watford.
Some United fans say he did that too much in his first few games for the club, in a kind of risk-averse strategy that is going away from his strengths.
That may, possibly, have been down to having Cristiano Ronaldo as a team-mate.
Sancho says he is benefitting from having the 37-year-old, five-time Ballon d’Or winner at such close quarters but, subconsciously, there must be a temptation to play to Ronaldo rather than concentrate on what he is so good at.
That is part of the maturing process and it may be that some of the lessons being learned now will not be fully absorbed for a couple of years.
Certainly assessment of Sancho should not be made on a first appearance at the ground that could have been home had he opted to stay at City rather than back himself to adjust to life in Dortmund.
“I went to the Bundesliga because I felt I was ready to play first-team football and I believed in myself,” he said.
“You have to think you want to be the best one day. I am still only young and have a lot to learn, but I do believe If I keep working hard and doing the right things I have a good chance of being one of the best players.”