Self-awareness continues to be one of Jadon Sancho's glaring weaknesses. In a harmless interview with an apparent influencer last week, Sancho was asked what he had learnt from Cristiano Ronaldo when they were teammates at Manchester United.

"Just his mentality," Sancho replied. "How he trains and how he goes into games. It's really inspirational."

Sancho seldom speaks to actual journalists. If he gave that answer to one then he would have been challenged on it.

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Sub-standard training form, and his public retort to Erik ten Hag for raising it, killed Sancho's United career. He was banished to the academy building and had to get changed in a locked room for safeguarding reasons.

Ralf Rangnick had Sancho's number three years ago. Back in the days when press conferences were still conducted through Zoom calls, Rangnick was asked about Sancho's struggles during his first six months at United.

During an erudite and lengthy analysis, Rangnick pointed to his temple. "It’s more physical, it’s more pressure, although he also played for one of the biggest clubs in Germany, in Dortmund," Rangnick explained.

"But I think in total, the whole league, the whole competition is more physical and the level of expectation is higher. When he came to Borussia Dortmund as a young player, he was only 18. Now he’s 21, playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world. I think it’s also got to do with a lot of different things up here in his head."

Sancho enjoyed his best run of form under Rangnick but the German diagnosed the problem early doors. Sancho only thrives in the comfort zone, ie. playing for also-rans in the Bundesliga. There is a reason why he billed Dortmund as "home" last year. Now he is back in his hometown of London.

Chelsea do not generate half the scrutiny United do but there is a reasonable level of expectation and Sancho's in-game vanishing acts are continuing in blue. He was replaced by the 19-year-old Tyrique George in Chelsea's FA Cup defeat on Saturday.

Yet he still had the brass neck to stick it to United on Sunday. Sancho and Ronaldo are both represented by the same PR and Sancho did their bidding again.

"Freedom," he commented on Marcus Rashford's Instagram post to mark his Aston Villa debut, accompanied by praying and celebratory emojis.

It is worth noting Sancho is still technically on the United payroll. They are paying a small percentage of his salary before Chelsea are obliged to sign him for between £20million and £25m next year.

United can be content with that planned sale. Sancho was another hollow piece of business during the Ed Woodward era/error. United failed to conduct due diligence and felt obliged to secure another superstar signing.

You can see why Anthony Elanga felt hard done by. Of the left wingers United stockpiled a few years ago, Elanga is now the most productive. The ruinous Anthony Martial is among the Greek ruins in Athens, Sancho and Rashford, bonded by their exiles, are out on loan and certain to be sold.

There has been predictable revisionism over Elanga amid Nottingham Forest's unexpected charge for Champions League qualification. Elanga left United in July 2023 and last scored for the club in February 2022. He never struggled to put in a shift but he did struggle to put the ball between the posts.

It is not as challenging to make waves by the Trent as it is by the River Irwell. The fee for Elanga could rise to £20m and is dependent on Forest qualifying for Europe. That seemed about as likely at the time as Plymouth Argyle beating Liverpool.

Ten Hag and the then-United football director John Murtough had an amicable chat with Elanga at the start of the team's 2023 pre-season tour in New Jersey. They expressed pride at his development and how pleased they were that he had secured a move to another Premier League club.

When Elanga returned to Old Trafford with Forest in December, he carried a wreath and had a shirt printed in tribute to the late United receptionist Kath Phipps. Some academy players did not give her the time of day. Elanga, a likeable lad brimming with humility, did.

Sancho's final kick for United, a lackadaisical penalty that Ederson saved in the Community Shield, typified his approach at the club. Too casual.

His finest form was on his return from enforced absences - after his aunt passed away in January 2022 and a three-month spell to address physical and mental issues in February 2023.

Sancho's impact in the latter, a crammed month of eight games in 26 days, was so swift he was entrusted from the start in both legs against Barcelona in the Europa League play-off tie. There were also key goals against Leeds United and Leicester City.

Alas, it was an anomaly. Sancho had a decent pre-season where he was trialled as a false nine but he was on the bench for the first three games of the season. Ten Hag's decision to turn to Martial, back after an umpteenth residency in the physio's room, preceded the telling training form and fateful squad omission away to Arsenal.

One mentality that Ronaldo and Sancho share is insincerity. Ronaldo never apologised for refusing to come on against Tottenham and leaving Old Trafford before full-time in October 2022. Sancho never apologised for essentially accusing Ten Hag of lying.

There the similarities end. Sancho received the number 25, alluding to potentially inheriting the number seven in the future. He was not worthy of Antonio Valencia's shirt, never mind Ronaldo's.