Jadon Sancho has to watch the World Cup. The former super talent of England has not been nominated by Gareth Southgate. Now he’s causing a stir on Instagram: his profile is empty, his picture is black.

As you can see, you see nothing: This is how nine million fans of the English star player Jadon Sancho feel about the start of the World Cup. The former Borussia Dortmund professional deleted all his posts on Instagram and switched his profile picture to black.

Nothing is officially known about the reasons. According to English media reports, the Manchester United attacker could simply take a social media break. He wants to focus more on his family and the Premier League. Sancho is not in action at the World Cup. National coach Gareth Southgate had not called up the 22-year-old for the World Cup.

For the vice European champions, the World Cup begins this Monday with the game against Iran (2 p.m. / ZDF, MagentaTV and in the ntv.de live ticker). So while Sancho has deleted everything, the Three Lions players are posting a lot from the World Cup quarters. Jack Grealish, for example, shows pictures from training on Instagram, from his view of the pool under the palm trees and from eating with teammates.

Due to poor performance and lack of discipline, Sancho had lost touch with the Three Lions in the past twelve months. At the 2021 European Championship final against Italy, the former Dortmund player came on shortly before the penalty shoot-out and then, like Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford, awarded the point. The title at London’s Wembley Stadium went to the Italians.

After the European Championship, Sancho was late for the World Cup qualifier against Andorra in October 2021. As a result, he was dropped from the squad by Southgate for the following games. The relationship between the two should not be the best. Southgate justified his non-nomination for the World Cup eleven days ago: “Jadon has improved in recent weeks, but there is a lot of competition in his position.”

Captain Harry Kane, on the other hand, has a really good relationship with the coach. “He made us even hungrier. Gareth is incredible for us,” said the Tottenham Hotspur star attacker. “The results at the 2018 World Cup and 2021 Euro speak for themselves. It’s been a good period under him and we’re hoping for more .” In the meantime, the English press is already debating whether Southgate should be kicked out should the World Cup go badly for England. However, the team will approach the opening game against Iran as favourites, as will the following group games against Wales and the USA.

(This article was first published on Monday, November 21, 2022.)