Why Manchester City must sign Jadon Sancho in the near future
Manchester City are interested in resigning Borussia Dortmund attacker Jadon Sancho, as per the Sun.
The 19-year-old forward spent two seasons at City’s academy after leaving Watford in 2015. But with no first-team football forthcoming, the teen star left England to join Borussia Dortmund in Germany. Three seasons later, he has become one of the Bundesliga’s most prolific talents.
Sancho’s great dribbling ability and goalscoring prowess first came to light at Watford, the club he joined at 7. Eventually, Manchester City were able to convince him to move.
The youngster’s start to the 2018/19 season put many of the world’s top players in the shadows, including multi-Ballon d’Or winners Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Indeed, at the end of September – and before he had even started a game – Sancho already had five assists to his name.
That was one more than Messi and Ronaldo, which was enough to convince England manager Gareth Southgate to take a closer look at the revelation, handing him his first senior cap in the UEFA Nations League clash with Croatia in October 2018.
Scoring twice against Hertha Berlin in October, Sancho also became the first player born in the 2000s to net a Bundesliga brace, the youngest player to do so for Dortmund and the eighth-youngest to achieve the feat in the Bundesliga’s 55-year history.
This season, the attacker has already managed 10 goals and 10 assists in all competitions and has been the fulcrum of Dortmund’s attack.
City have endured a mediocre run of form this term, which has seen them fall behind Liverpool in challenging for the title. The path to first-team football in the wide positions remains extremely difficult, given the scintillating form of Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez.
That said, with Leroy Sane being linked with a move to Bayern Munich lately, as per Bild (h/t The Mirror), there could potentially be a spot up for grabs.
If City cannot convince Sane to remain in Manchester, Sancho would be the best like-for-like option. Much like his German counterpart, Sancho is blessed with pace and technical abilities but he has also critically developed an eye for goal.
While many young forwards are solid when dribbling, they typically struggle with developing any real end product, as seen with Nicolas Pépé at Arsenal and Christian Pulisic at Chelsea. This is not the case for Sancho.
Verdict
Sancho has been fabulous for Dortmund over the last couple of seasons and a move to England would be great. If Manchester City can secure a deal for the winger, it will be fantastic business.
