Jadon Sancho: Rio Ferdinand loving Dortmund winger's 'arrogance' and 'swagger' in Paris Saint-Germain display

TNT Sports pundit Rio Ferdinand believes Jadon Sancho has found his "swagger" again after returning to Borussia Dortmund.

The England international played a starring role for his club as they beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final.

He is still only on loan in Germany, having joined the club from Manchester United during the January transfer window after a high-profile falling-out with Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag.

With Euro 2024 approaching, Ferdinand says it is great to see the 24-year-old hitting peak form again.

"He was shaking and baking top players," he told TNT Sports. "He’s making people dance. It was a joke what he has done today.

"We haven’t seen this probably since he was at Dortmund. He isn’t just a dribbler, he isn't somebody who just runs and runs.

"He’s a footballer who wants to come in and play one-twos, be part of the game and the tempo. The arrogance is a great point as well, what I saw today more than anything which I’ve been waiting to see, and all other Man Utd fans have been thinking ‘Where is it?’

"I saw cage football Sancho today. This is the kid who grew up in cages with that arrogance and that little bit of swagger. I’ve been sitting here saying it’s there, but we haven’t seen it."

The midfielder, who was part of the youth ranks at Watford and Manchester City earlier in his career, rose to prominence in 2017 after joining Dortmund.

He spent four years in Germany, scoring 50 goals in 137 appearances for the club across all competitions.

That convinced Manchester United to splash out over £70m to sign him in 2021, but he never truly found his feet at Old Trafford.

In all, Sancho made merely 82 appearances across two-and-a-half years, netting 12 times, but a fall out with his manager meant he was left training away from the first team from September 2023.

Ferdinand says Red Devils supporters will be wondering why he failed to turn out these kind of performances during his time with the club.

"He’s in the groove," he continued. "When someone gets in the groove, we see it in different sports. When they’re in the groove and the confidence is there, they churn these performances out.

"He will come off this pitch on a high, we’ll see all these people going on about it on social media, and love it, and rightly so. I hate to go back, but I want to know what happened at Man Utd. Why didn’t it go well there?

"That’s what the frustration used to be at Man Utd. He’s not doing that, beating people, facing the defender up and going ‘Right, I’m going to go past you.’

"Also, the physicality of the Premier League. Was that an issue? I don’t know. There are so many different things you look at and think what it could be, only Jadon can tell us that.

"But you look at the way he played in a Champions League semi-final, you can’t devalue that. For him and Man Utd there is a plus point tonight, the value has gone back up again.

"Most teams are probably looking to loan him or nick him for very cheap. I think teams will be looking at that performance and go 'If I can get anywhere near that on a regular basis, I will have some of that.'"

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