Jadon Sancho has had a rollercoaster of a ride at Manchester United this season. In his second official campaign for the Red Devils, everyone felt like the introduction of Erik ten Hag can help the Englishman soar after a disappointing debut campaign.
Sancho had a surprisingly slow start at Old Trafford, incurring that brutal ‘007’ meme for not having one goal contribution in seven games.
In 35 appearances last season, the Englishman scored only five goals and provided three assists. These numbers were nowhere good enough for a player signed for over £70m.
When Sancho started to perform well in pre-season, impressing in the Asia tour and scoring a few goals, most fans believed that he’ll be at his best under Ten Hag.
To his credit, the 22-year-old winger started his campaign really strongly. He scored two goals in their first five Premier League games, with one against Liverpool.
However, after a while, goals started drying up and he wasn’t able to create chances either.
With new boy Antony occupying the right-wing spot and Marcus Rashford on fire through the left, Sancho found himself in an awkward position.
After a poor performance in United’s 1-1 draw against Chelsea in October, Ten Hag decided that Sancho needed more discipline.
He was sent to an individual training camp during the World Cup break and spent multiple months in the Netherlands working on his game.
Ten Hag ensured that he would be thorough with his training work after admitting the winger wasn’t ‘physically or mentally’ ready to perform for his side over quite a few months.
He only made his return in February, during United’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup second leg.
Sancho started to get more minutes after that, as he came on in his side’s game against Leeds United at Old Trafford and scored the equalizer.
His performances since the return have been encouraging and fans are confident that they’ll get to see the best of Sancho soon.
Amid all of this, Sancho has partnered with his shoe sponsor Nike to create brand-new boots for his fans.
The new boots that have been made for him also have a special, infamous message scripted to them.
On the side of the boots, the words ‘Kennington, Where It Started’ is written for a special reason. This is a way for Sancho to pay tribute to the area of Kennington, which is situated in South London.
The 22-year-old grew up in that district and clearly has great affection for it as well. Sancho even became good friends with Arsenal winger Reiss Nelson, who lived nearby the area, when they were kids and played together with him in youth tournaments.
Moreover, the United winger is known to be a big fan of the UK drill rap scene. There is actually a song called ‘Kennington Where it Started’ from the Harlem Spartans – tributed to the district.
However, the Englishman has been brutally mocked after a series of memes that were created after his move to Old Trafford.
Former AFTV character Troopz started the trend of the ‘Kennington Where It Started’ memes after the Red Devils’ embarrassing 5-0 loss to Liverpool in October 2021, a match in which Sancho took part as well.
Sancho has been the victim of a lot of online trolling over the last few years because of this meme series being unleashed. To this day, fans keep using that saying to mock him after his underwhelming performances. Despite the memes, he’s still gone on to engrave that onto his new boots – using the mockery as motivation to make a strong comeback this season.
The 22-year-old is well aware that he still has a lot to improve to totally win over Ten Hag at United. He’ll need to be more consistent in delivering goals or assists and play like the baller he was at Borussia Dortmund to make the people of Kennington proud as well as shut up any doubters.
