Sancho urged to now kick-start Reds career

MICHAEL Carrick has challenged Jadon Sancho to go and show the world how talented he is after scoring his first goal for United.

The winger slammed in a shot off the bar to seal the Reds’ win against Villarreal and it capped arguably his best performance since his £73m move from Borussia Dortmund.

The winger was starting back-toback games for United for only the second time and his performance grew in stature. He missed one excellent chance after a good combination with Bruno Fernandes, but made no mistake in the closing stages.

Now Carrick has told the 21-year-old it is up to him to use it as a springboard.

“He’ll feel better after playing how he played. The goal is the obvious one and for Jadon himself, it will give him a massive boost,” he said.

“I know how much he likes the ball at his feet, that’s where he’s happiest, but the most pleasing for me was the effort and application he put in off the ball.

“At times he didn’t see a lot of the ball but he was doing a job and he played a big part in the team performance.

“You earn your rewards, he epitomised the team performance to dig in but also to enjoy the ball at other times. It’s up to him what happens next and how he kicks on, he’s got all the talent in the world and he’ll have our support that’s for sure.”

United scored twice in the last 12 minutes to earn the victory in Carrick’s first match as caretaker manager and they took control of the game in the final quarter when Fernandes and Marcus Rashford came off the bench.

“The game panned out as I thought, when you’ve had results we’ve had and gone through what we have it would be very foolish to think it would be free-flowing and everything would be wonderful,” said Carrick.

“They make you work for it and make you defend, test you with how clever you are at closing spaces. I had a feeling it would be a tight game.

“Everyone played their part. There was a real drive and togetherness and support for each other.”