Ex-Manchester United winger Kieran Richardson gives advice to struggling Jadon Sancho

In the second part of a Ladbrokes Fanzone exclusive, former Manchester United winger Kieran Richardson talked to us about what Jadon Sancho needs to do to get back on track.

Here’s what Jadon Sancho needs to work on

The good thing Jadon Sancho has going for him is that he’s still so young, and I think people forget that. He’s 23 years old, and he came to Manchester United with that massive price tag on his head. Like everyone, I watched him playing out in Germany, doing so well, breezing past three or four players at a time, scoring and assisting goals. But the reality is simple: the German league is just not the Premier League. Defenders are much quicker over here. It’s much more physical and I think that’s where Jadon has probably struggled a little. He’s realised how much quicker it is. We all know he has the technical ability to be a Manchester United player.

If I were Jadon Sancho, I’d try to become the fittest guy in my team. When you become the fittest player in your team, it gives you so much more confidence. When I watch him play, he’ll go past someone, but then he doesn’t have that power to keep going, and I think he needs to work on that. Obviously, he might have something going on in his mind at the moment. He’s got a lot going on with the manager, off the field stuff…it’s a hard one for him.

Is he suited to the Premier League? I think he is. I think he’s shown quality over the last few years. We’ve seen him score goals, go past players, all of those attributes. He just needs a good run in the team. He’s always in and out. Obviously the manager and him have got something going on right now, and it’s a hard one because you really feel like his career is at a bit of a crossroads right now. He does have the quality, though.

Unfortunately for Jadon, everything is amplified at Man United

The thing with Jadon, though, is that it’s the club he plays for: Manchester United. It’s the biggest club in England, so everything is amplified by 10. If you’ve had a bad game, it’s 10 times worse because you’ve done it for Manchester United. Sometimes, players just can’t handle that pressure. Does he leave and go to a Tottenham or an Aston Villa, where there’s much less pressure and play better? I don’t know. If you’re leaving Man United, the majority of the time you’re going backwards – you’re going down a level. I do feel that he has the quality to be a Manchester United player. We’ve seen that in glimpses. But glimpses aren’t enough at Manchester United, you need to be performing every single week. What you’ll find is that if you’re not performing every week, and putting in eights or nines out of 10, you’ll end up just falling by the wayside, and ultimately moving on.

I don’t feel like his Manchester United career is over, though. He needs an arm around him and he needs to keep his head down, and really work on his fitness levels. I really believe he can turn things around.

One thing I’ve always been passionate about when it comes to football is fitness. Talent aside, if you put your mind to it, you can be the fittest player in your team. It doesn’t matter what level you’re playing at, that’s one thing you can control. I know it’s hard when you’re a young player, and you’ve not fully grown or developed that strength. But I always think about my own experience as a player. When I signed for Sunderland, I was out for six months with a fractured spine. I remember being in the manager’s office, and I told Roy [Keane] that I was going to be the fittest player in that club.

I didn’t have a summer, I just hired a personal trainer – nothing to do with football – just to work on my fitness. Sharpness, sprinting, running up hills, being able to cover 14,000 km a game. These are the things you can control – becoming the fittest guy at the club. You might not be able to be the best player at the club, but if you want it bad enough, you can become the fittest. And that’s how I feel about Sancho. If he did that, he’d be in a much better place. I’ve been there. When you’re the fittest guy on the pitch, your confidence is so high. It’s a crazy thing. When you’re the fittest guy, you’re making so many sprints, you’re tracking back, it builds your confidence. It gives you that base of confidence, and Sancho doesn’t have that right now. Fitness levels definitely impact confidence levels. From there, once you’re a bit more confident, you can start to relax a little, get yourself on the ball and show your qualities.