On Friday, England boss Gareth Southgate named his squad for Nations League games against Croatia and Spain. The Three Lions boss was expected to name a few youngsters in his squad, and he did just that with the youngest being Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho.
The youngster is only 18 years old, but he has already made a mark for BVB this season in the Bundesliga despite not playing on a regular basis, producing five assists and one goal in just 124 minutes of football, which is a better return than any player in the top five European leagues.
Made a brave move to Dortmund
Sancho may just start a trend for English youngsters wanting to thrive. Although born in London, the winger started to catch the eye in the Manchester City youth set-up. At 17 years of age, he turned down a deal with City to move to Dortmund.
It was a brave move. However, it was also a shrewd move on the youngster’s part. He or his advisors must have looked at the players blocking his path to the first-team and City’s financial resources and thought he would never get a game in Manchester.
In reality, very few youngsters have broken into the City team since the clubs wealthy owners took the reins. No matter how good Sancho was, he would have struggled to play first-team football.
Dortmund a great club to develop your game
The choice of Dortmund as his preferred destination was no coincidence. BVB have become renowned for giving youngsters a chance and their development of players.
BVB have developed players from all corners of the world and they tend to be a finishing school for would-be Bundesliga and world stars. One of the other youngsters currently thriving at the club is USA internal Christian Pulisic, who has been linked with a number of Europe’s biggest clubs.
Dortmund is the perfect club for a young player. They play in a competitive domestic league, while also featuring in the Champions League on a regular basis.
Young players can only benefit from that sort of experience. Sancho seems to be enjoying his time at the German club. Very few English players have ventured abroad in recent years, so it is refreshing to see Sancho doing so well in the Bundesliga.
With the big English teams increasingly populated by highly paid foreign players, it would be no surprise to see more young players following Sancho’s example.
Exciting young player
Sancho has already displayed his potential at Dortmund. However, he has not even broken into the BVB team on a regular basis. He has not yet featured for the England under-21’s either.
Despite those trivial matters, Sancho has established himself as an exciting young player with bags of potential. His speed and directness are attributes that will translate easily to the international game. His fearlessness will also help him to play for England.
It seems unlikely that the 18-year-old will be starting against Croatia, a game the Three Lions are odds of 8/5 to win. He may not even get on the field against either Croatia or Spain.
However, Sancho appears to be the sort of lively player that gets fans off their seat. Although England have arguably made progress under Gareth Southgate, the Three Lions squad still needs more exciting, attacking players.
Even if he does not feature in the upcoming Nations League matches, I get the feeling that we will hear a lot more about Jadon Sancho in the next few years, as he seems to potentially be a very promising young player.
Will Jadon Sancho feature for England in the upcoming Nations League games?
- Soccer News Like
- Be the first of your friends!
