Football Talent Scout Report: Jadon Sancho

Jadon Malik Sancho is an English Under-19 player who currently plays for German Club Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga. The 18-year-old played for the Manchester City youth academy until Dortmund paid 7.05 Million Pounds for him in late August 2017. He can play on both the wings in an advanced midfield cum attacking position, but his proficiency lies in the left wing position.

Sancho was part of the England squad which won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India 2 years ago. The left winger is currently valued at £80 million as per sports analysis website, iSports API.

17/18 season, Sancho played a total of 12 games for Dortmund in the Bundesliga and scored 1 goal in those appearances for the club. In the current 2018-19 season which has just begun, Sancho has appeared for the senior squad in a total of 4 matches – 3 in the Bundesliga and 1 in the League Cup, DFB-Pokal, as per iSports API.

What’s astonishing, is the fact that Sancho has a brilliant record of 3 assists in his 4 appearances this season and that too having just played 96 minutes in total. That averages to around an assist every 32 minutes, which might be one of the best assist per minute averages in Europe right now if we were to leniently not consider various other factors involved.

Just to remind you, we are talking about an 18-year-old here. As per reports from iSports API, after graduating from the Manchester City academy not long ago, Sancho was chased by Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham. He was also offered a new contract at Manchester City worth 30,000 Pounds which he turned down.

The English teenager then chose Dortmund as his new home, after turning down all the English heavyweights. Dortmund Sporting Director Michael Zorc has hailed Jadon Sancho as ‘one of the greatest young talents in European football’ and has assured that he will ‘definitely play at BVB’.

After being given the number 7 jersey at Dortmund which was vacated by Barcelona bound Ousmane Dembele, and has been previously worn by former Dortmund stars Shinji Kagawa and Robert Lewandowski, the future looks bright for the young Englishman.

Also, Dortmund has always been known to produce and develop Europe’s best talents – the list of which contains big names such as Marco Reus, Mario Gotze, Robert Lewandowski, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Shinji Kagawa and so on – Sancho might be one of the names to be added to this list in the coming 3 years.

In a recent article by The Guardian, Sancho was described as ‘A street player with the potential to be England’s Neymar who can emulate Dele Alli for England' by former England youth coach, Dan Micciche. This is due to the 18-year-old’s quick feet and dribbling abilities on the left wing position for Borussia Dortmund as well as for England at the Under-19 and Under-17 levels. Dan Micciche has coached Sancho at the U-17 level.

Having an Under-17 World Cup under his belt in addition to the number 7 jersey and an important squad role at Dortmund, there is only one thing that is sure about Jadon Sancho - his development.

The teenager will surely learn a lot from German World Cup winners Mario Gotze and Marco Reus who are his teammates at Dortmund, while the three of them fight for the advanced midfield position at the club.

Another fact is that Dortmund guarantees Sancho not only good exposure of German football but also European competitions, which is a big plus if the Englishman is bound to ever return to one of the Premier League giants. The Premier League clubs have been disappointing in the Champions League for many years now and would love a huge prospective European talent like Sancho, 3-4 years down the line.

The future is bright for the 18-year-old Englishman.

All datas from iSports API.