COMMENT: It's one week. And it's one game. So why do it? And why now? Why did Jadon Sancho choose to take to social media and attack his manager as he did on Sunday...?

This was no meltdown. No spur of the moment thing. Sancho essentially released a prepared statement. The winger taking aim at Erik ten Hag and the Manchester United manager's claims of poor training ground form being reason for his omission at Arsenal.

Barely an hour after the final whistle, Sancho let it all hang out: “Please don't believe everything you read! I will not allow people saying things that is completely untrue, I have conducted myself in training very well this week.

“I believe there are other reasons for this matter that I won't go into, I've been a scapegoat for a long time which isn't fair!

“All I want to do is play football with a smile on my face and contribute to my team. I respect all decisions that are made by the coaching staff, I play with fantastic players and grateful to do so which I know every week is a challenge. I will continue to fight for this badge no matter what."

Sancho effectively branded his manager a liar - and then declared unspoken truths were reason for his axing. But beyond the statement and it's substance. The timing is baffling. Indeed, it's the stuff of madness, if Sancho has hopes - as he claimed - of building his career at United.

Just hours after a frustrating defeat at Arsenal. Just an international break before the Champions League and League Cup games are introduced. Sancho let rip. With emotions raw, given the manner of Arsenal's win, his post was never going to be welcomed. And as we say, with the schedule about to widen - and playing chances to significantly improve - the decision to throw it all into jeopardy is baffling.

One week. One game. Even if he felt slighted by Ten Hag's claims. Insulted. Sancho will have seen enough from his manager that nothing is ever personal with him. Play well. Follow his instructions. And a fresh chance is granted. Why not just get your head down and win the manager back over? He always remains open-minded. Alejandro Garnacho and Aaron Wan Bissaka - for differing reasons - are proof enough of that. But with this statement, at this time, you just wonder whether there's any way back.

From his angle, there should be sympathy for the player. If he was genuinely caught out by Sunday's call. If he feels wronged. Then the anger is understandable. After all, he did everything asked of him last season by Ten Hag. The time away from the club. The boot camp at OJC Rosmalen. The dumping of social media. He took it all on. He met his manager halfway. At least that's what we saw from the outside.

But perhaps Sancho just isn't a Ten Hag player? Perhaps he's the last of the group that simply don't belong in this newly-formed locker room? Jesse Lingard. Paul Pogba. Dean Henderson. Perhaps Sancho and Ten Hag just don't fit.

"After every game he took me through a video and explained to me everything," Sancho's new teammate Sofyan Amrabat said of Ten Hag over their time together at Utrecht. "I was 18 or 19 years old, so sometimes I was like, 'Phew, again?' But looking back now, I know it was so important for my career. I learned so much from him."

Is Sancho that type? The football-obsessive? The career-obsessive? You can see the type of personality Ten Hag seeks in a player. It's a thread that's running through this squad. Jesse Lingard didn't fit that. Nor did Paul Pogba. Is Sancho more the Lingard-type than Amrabat?

Of course, we can be cynical and state the obvious. The Saudi market remains open. There's millions being thrown at players of Sancho's level. With international peer Gabri Veiga now at Al-Ahli, a move to the Saudi Pro League would be no great surprise. Indeed, with Gareth Southgate admitting plans for an increased scouting presence in the SPL, even England ambitions would remain intact.

So it'd make sense. Sancho is the prototype of the next wave of talent Michael Emenalo, the SPL's recruitment boss, has plans to bring to the league. Blowing up his relationship with Ten Hag. Upsetting teammates still burning from the apparent injustice of a London defeat. If the plan was to engineer a move to Saudi, then Sancho and his minders couldn't have played it better.

At least that would make sense... because making such a statement - and at such a time - defies logic if Jadon Sancho still has hopes of a Manchester United future.