Whilst Cristiano Ronaldo was warming up along the Turf Moor touchline, the great Portuguese came to a standstill to watch Jadon Sancho’s dazzling footwork.
United’s number 25 looked to have the ball on the end of the string and was waltzing past the Burnley players with ease.
At one stage, the former Borussia Dortmund man was toying with James Tarkowski, which included a nonchalant nutmeg on the centre-halve.
Following the winter break, Sancho has looked like the player that took the Bundesliga by storm.
After missing the Premier League wins against Brentford and West Ham due to being granted special leave following a family bereavement, Sancho was back in the starting line-up against Middlesbrough.
With Anthony Martial on loan at Sevilla and Mason Greenwood not being considered for selection, Sancho’s chances of starting games has dramatically improved.
But after scoring his fist goal at Old Trafford in the penalty shootout defeat against Boro, United’s number 25 looks galvanised.
From the first whistle against the Clarets, the 21-year-old was driving at Burnley and putting their right-back Connor Roberts on the back foot.
In the first six months of his Manchester United career, it felt like Sancho was hesitant and lacked the self-belief to run at defenders and trust his dribbling qualities.
But it looks like he has finally had that breakthrough moment in his Manchester United career and is more than ready to live up to his £73m (BBC Sport) price tag.
Instead of playing on the right-hand side where we thought he would play after signing in the summer, Sancho looks to be enjoying playing in front of Luke Shaw.
Shaw is aware that Sancho wants the ball into his feet early, so he can then get at the full-back one-v-one.
But Sancho is also becoming accustomed to Shaw’s underlapping and overlapping runs. There is the potential for a fruitful partnership between the pair.
Manchester United have to benefit from Sancho’s upturn in form and give him the ball at every opportunity because he looks like he wants to grab the game by the scruff of the neck.
After remaining patient, Manchester United are finally starting to see the qualities Jadon Sancho brings to this team.
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