Is it time to start worrying about Jadon Sancho?

By Callum Castel-Nuovo

Jadon Sancho's £73m transfer to Manchester United has not caught the world alight as quick as football fans may have thought. Without a goal contribution in eight appearances, the England international is being rendered a 'flop' already after making little to no impact on Manchester United since his arrival from Borussia Dortmund.

However, in Sancho's final eight games at Dortmund, the Manchester City academy product registered five goals and five assists, leaving in high form and justifying his price tag. Has he lost all of his talent? Will he just become a 'flop'? Is he not getting enough time to shine at Manchester United?

There is no definitive answer to these questions, but there are examples of players that started their career at a new club with uncertainty yet ended their time as club heroes.

Thierry Henry (Arsenal)

One perfect example of a player that started his career slow and became inconceivable is Thierry Henry. The retired French international was signed by Arsene Wenger's Arsenal in 1999 to replace fellow French forward Nicolas Anelka. With a £11m transfer from Juventus, fans were disappointed with Henry's lack of goal involvement in his first seven games for the club, registering zero goals. Was the Premier League too physical for Henry? Was it because Wenger was trying to force a winger to become a striker? Henry finally scored his first Arsenal goal during his eighth appearance but made the fans wait another four games before netting a brace.

The Frenchman soon took off at Arsenal and though he started poorly, finished his first season with 17 goals and 8 assists throughout 31 appearances. What followed on from this was a player that would become a club legend, breaking various records in the process. Thierry Henry became Arsenal's record goalscorer, scoring 228 goals in total and writing his name in Premier League history books.

Dennis Bergkamp (Arsenal)

Fellow Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp also didn't start life in the Premier League at pace after a £7.5m move from Inter Milan in 1995. Much like Henry, Bergkamp took his time to score his first goal for Arsenal and it was his seventh game for the club that marked his first and second time on the scoresheet with a brace against Southampton. The Dutchman finished his first season for Arsenal with an underwhelming 11 goals in 33 appearances.

However, it was Arsene Wenger's arrival that got Bergkamp up and running. A change in philosophy and system saw Arsenal secure the domestic double, with Bergkamp scoring 16 goals and registering 11 assists in 28 league games, proving influential for a flying Arsenal side. Dennis Bergkamp has gone down as one of Arsenal's greatest players in history, scoring 120 goals for the club and winning multiple Premier League and FA Cup trophies.

David Silva (Manchester City)

After attempts to sign the Spaniard in 2008, Manchester City finally had their man in 2010. David Silva arrived in Manchester from Valencia in a £26m deal that saw the arrival of a future club legend. But like Henry and Bergkamp, it didn't start as rosy as City thought it would. The former Spain international only started one of City's first four league games, leaving fans to wonder whether he would struggle to make his mark in the Premier League.

Silva even had to publicly announce that he would get better for the Manchester club, after his physicality was questioned. Though the Premier League started in August, it wasn't until October that David Silva scored his first league goal for City in a 3-2 win away at Blackpool. Silva went on to score three more and register eight assists that season, but it was the 2011/12 season that the Spaniard made a real impact. After registering 6 goals and 17 assists in 36 games, David Silva and Manchester City lifted their first ever Premier League title.

In his time at Manchester City, Silva registered 77 goals and 141 assists, leaving the club with four Premier League titles, two FA Cups and five EFL Cups, going down as a Manchester City club legend.

Having not played a full 90 minutes in the league or Europe, Jadon Sancho is already at risk of being written off by the football world. At just 21-years-old, Sancho left the Bundesliga with 38 goals and 20 assists for Borussia Dortmund and already holds 22 caps for England. The United forward clearly has plenty of talent within him and may just need time to adjust in a different country.

Dortmund CEO, Joachim Watzke stated that Sancho's lack of game time is 'hurting his soul' and with Cristiano Ronaldo being the limelight of Manchester United, Jadon Sancho is getting left behind. With more game time and a structure that fits the England international, it could be no time before we see his talents shine through again as he attempts to hold down a permanent position in the starting eleven.