Saka or Sancho who you got? feat. R. Nelson

Both young English wingers , Sancho coming from Dortmund for a massive fee with a big reputation. Sancho is 18 months older. I felt up until a few months ago majority of people would have said Sancho, but given how this season has gone I think it’s an interesting hypothetical.

So if asked the question who you taking for the next 5 years ? Sancho or Saka ?

By the way if one of the mods want to add a poll that would be great, wasn’t sure how you add it.

  • Saka
  • Sancho

0 voters

I was taking Saka even before we found out Sancho was a fraud tbh

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I have no idea whose better or has higher potential as you can’t judge sancho on these few months at United.

But Saka is hale end and is delivering the goods for us so I see no need to swap him for any other young wide player out there.

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Poll added. Anything less than 100% Saka is a travesty.

Bollix. Forgot to make it public voting.

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I think Sancho has the higher ceiling between the two as his game is more refined and he’s actually displayed his talents consistently.

The United move has been a disaster so far which certainly adds to the idea that Saka is the better talent right now.

I would say Saka has not been particularly impressive up until his recent upsurge in form. If he can maintain that form and produce double digit goals and some nice assist numbers then I think I’ll be more convinced.

But for now I still think we’ve actually got evidence of just how good Sancho is and how consistently good he can be. Sancho is the better of the two but I just hope Saka continues to smash it and develop a more rounded and refined game.

Will be interesting to look back at this in a few years time

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Your last sentence is pretty much why I wanted to start the thread and discussion, I think it’s going to be an interesting review come say 2026.

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Someone voted Sancho 🤦

Talking shit here based on gut feels, but my gut says that Sancho is more talented and not by a tiny margin either. But there’s something about Saka being such a “good boy” type that I can’t help but feel like he’ll reach something close to the top for sure, whereas Sancho feels like the kind of player that could be somewhere on the could have been scale if he’s with the wrong coach / club.

I think for the amount of steps up we need to take compared to where we want to be, you’d take Saka as an everpresent in this squad to build around.

Saka for the simple fact he hasn’t got an €85 million price tag to live up to at such a young age.

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:slightly_smiling_face::wave:t3:

Sancho is quality, he ghosts past defenders like they’re not there; is equally effective on both wings; has excellent technique and has amazing output. He is an extreme talent.

I voted Saka because he’s added goals to his game and has most of what Sancho has with the additional benefit of amazing decision making and graft.

I would have swapped Saka for Sancho in the summer and before. There is no way now that would seem a good deal.

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@Aussiegooner

How would you feel about the poll being reset and being made public?

At this moment…Saka’s ahead. In 5 years time, I think Saka. He would have added goals to his game by that time.

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I remember me and @GC-Maniac had a back an forth about it just before the Euros. I was adamant that Sancho was better and that it wasn’t close.

At the very least Saka’s closed the gap since then and has shown clear growth as a right winger. Sancho on the other hand barely played at Euros and was fairly disappointing when did step on the pitch. Saka was judged by Southgate to be the better player for the system.

And Sancho been crap at United. Like really crap, which I take to be an insult to my intelligence given how high I had him a few months ago lol.

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Why man why? You just started to be Arteta in to my liking and now you just ruined it with this :sweat_smile:

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Haha I’m a firm believer in what has been proven over what can likely happen. I’ve always tended to favour experience over youth in general.

But in the case of two young players, I’m favouring the one who’s produced at a high level for consistently longer. I wouldn’t want to denigrate Saka’s growth and achievement so far I just think Sancho had the upper hand and I’m not going to let 3 bad months at United override what’s otherwise been a stellar young career so far.

What about the fact that Saka was trusted over Sancho in the summer?

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I would have said Sancho without a doubt six months ago but now I lean Saka.

While its harsh to judge Sancho on his time at United given the shit situation he walked into, I don’t think his mediocre start in England can be written off entirely. Most importantly, seeing him play in the Premier League has made it more apparent to me that he has some significant physical limitations. He is not nearly as quick, either without the ball or with the ball, as top tier wingers/wide forwards we have seen in England over the last 5-10 years like Sterling, Salah, Hazard, Alexis, or Mane. Saka on the other hand absolutely has those physical tools, as well as the technique to make them count. Sancho seems like a winger that a good FB can largely handle when isolated one on one on the side of the box, whereas Saka is becoming basically unplayable 1-v-1 in that situation.

I think the question of physical limitations looms really large for Sancho because its really hard to be a decisive player in the final third in the PL without them. There is so little time and so little space when things get congested. He scored and assisted a huge number of goals in the Bundesliga in very wide open games where he had tons of space to operate - lots of counters and weird broken play situations where he and other BvB players were running at a disorganized defense 3 v 3. His best skills - game intelligence, composure - could really come through in those situations. He isn’t getting the same opportunities in England and he won’t because those opportunities don’t occur as often and the defensive intensity is significantly higher.

The other issue with Sancho versus Saka is that the former is right footed. He was productive as a RW in Germany precisely because he was in those broken field/counter-attack situations a lot when footedness matters much less. But in the PL, going up against deep blocks and packed defenses more, he really needs to play LW to get the best out of him. All that is fine, but it makes him less valuable as there are so many good right-footed players who want to be the star man in that spot cutting in from the left and a lot fewer left-footed players capable of doing the same thing cutting in from the right.

A lot of Saka is still projection. This is really the first time that he has started to put the end product together consistently. To what degree is that a purple patch and to what degree is it sustainable refinement in his game? Hard to say but he only just turned 20 and seeing this much end product at that age is actually pretty good. He is 18 months younger than Sancho and unless he has a big injury I would certainly bet on him improving quite a bit in that time.

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I’d say that’s a lot to do with Southgate system favouring someone like Saka and not necessarily wanting to use playmaking wide players. I’d say that’s probably why we didn’t get much Grealish either.

Never seen much of Sancho in Germany, and from what I’ve seen of him at Man Utd Saka wins this by a landslide for me.

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Saka’s been brought up in the toughest league whilst Sancho had it easy in the Bundesliga. Also shone at the Euros whilst Sancho couldn’t get a look in. I know who I’d rather have.

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