Kieron Dyer recalls witnessing Jadon Sancho 'red flag' when he watched him as a youngster against Reece James for Man City

Former England star Kieron Dyer has recalled witnessing a Jadon Sancho ‘red flag’ when the winger was still at Manchester City.

When he was a youngster, Sancho was working his way up the ranks at City.

Borussia Dortmund then snapped up the winger in 2017, where he started to show the world what he was capable of.

In 2021, Manchester United spent a reported fee of £73 million to bring Sancho back to the Premier League.

However, the 23-year-old endured a tough time at Old Trafford and this season, he was frozen out after a public spat with manager Erik ten Hag.

This week, the forward returned to Dortmund on loan for the remainder of the season.

Talking about Sancho on talkSPORT, Dyer recalled watching him play as a youngster for City.

He said: “He was a wonderkid growing up. He was the talk of everybody in the academies at that time. I was coaching and when I watched Man City he was unstoppable. It was the youth team, so the under-18s and he was incredible.

“He was probably 17 years old and everyone wanted him – he could have his pick, he’d just dominate every team. They played Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup final and played against Reece James and Reece James got the better of him, which can happen to anyone, but he quit on his team in the Youth Cup final.”

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Dyer continued: “He just mentally went and I kind of had a red flag against him then and thought that’s a bit weird. He’s got the world at his feet and alright, he’s had a bad game but he’s quit on his teammates.

“You could see the life had gone out of him, he’d stopped tracking back and sort of given up and was basically mentally gone.”

Upon re-signing for Dortmund, Sancho told the club’s official website: “It's so nice to be back. Dortmund is like a home to me.

“This is where my career as a professional footballer started. That was always my dream. I'm happy to be back here again.”