Manchester United’s forward line when it clicks into gear is frightening, but once Jadon Sancho produces the type of form that he produced week in, week out at Dortmund, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s red arrows could become unstoppable.
Bruno Fernandes, Mason Greenwood and Cristiano Ronaldo have all come out the blocks flying this season whereas Sancho is still waiting to open his United account.
With Lingard off the mark and pushing for a start against his former side West Ham and Paul Pogba on track to break Premier League assist records, Solskjaer has a formidable forward line.
That’s without mentioning Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani.
But you cannot help but think that once Sancho hits the heights that convinced United to splash out £73m (BBC Sport) to secure his signature, United’s attack will have a completely different weapon to destroy teams.
Pace, trickery, goals, assists and vision, Sancho has it all and more, but the key for Solskjaer is finding a way to unlock that incredible potential.
Is Diogo Dalot the man to unlock Sancho?
In the games playing in front of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Sancho hasn’t looked particularly comfortable.
Whereas when he made his first start at Old Trafford in front of Luke Shaw, Sancho looked free and linked up well with the England full-back.
Wan-Bissaka is not naturally attack-minded, but that isn’t something Sancho was use to when playing in front of his right-back at Dortmund.
Sancho linked up very well with Thomas Meunier, who loved to bomb forward and created space for the England youngster to punish teams.
With Wan-Bissaka suspended against Villarreal following his red card, Solskjaer needs to explore the Diogo Dalot and Sancho partnership.
This partnership could be utilised for the first time in the Carabao Cup tie against West Ham on Wednesday.
Dalot is similar to the Belgian Meunier, he loves to maraud forward and contribute to his side’s attacking play.
Unlike Wan-Bissaka, Dalot first thought is to go forward and attack the space whereas United’s number 29 is a bit more hesitant and at times has to be implored to get forward.
There is no denying that Wan-Bissaka is the better defender out of him and Dalot, but in games where teams are going to sit back, Dalot’s attacking qualities could prove to be a fruitful and devastating partnership with Sancho.
It’s an option which hasn’t been utilised yet, but it could be one that takes this United side to new heights if given the chance.
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