SANCHO COMES OF AGE
England star gets a £179m valuation for 20th birthday
JADON Sancho leaves his teenage years behind him today.
Now the England and Borussia Dortmund star has to decide where he goes next.
The Manchester City academy graduate was yesterday named as the most valuable player born in the 2000s at a staggering £179million by the CIES Football Observatory.
To put this into context, the 20-year-old is judged to be worth double his team-mate Erling Haaland and four times more than Mason Greenwood or Phil Foden.
Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are all interested in signing him this summer, although the transfer market is in a state of flux because of the coronavirus.
Sancho has had an incredible third season in the Bundesliga.
February’s Player of the Month has scored 14 goals and provided 15 assists in 23 games and he has impressed the only player to have cost more than his latest valuation.
“Jadon is a player I like watching,” said Neymar, who cost Paris Saint-Germain almost £200m. “He has a lot of quality.”
Borussia Dortmund’s sporting director Michael Zorc said: “Jadon is a phenomenon. His efficiency at his age is incredible.”
The Londoner’s rapid ascent to the top of the game followed his decision to leave Pep Guardiola and City for Dortmund for £10m in August 2017, aged just 17.
He did not start a Bundesliga match until January 2018 and scored his first goal against Bayer Leverkusen in the April.
Despite not having much game time, Sancho was not short of confidence.
“I nutmegged Dortmund captain Marcel Schmelzer in training and he told me, ‘Don’t do that again’,” he revealed during his first season. Sancho made his full England debut aged 18 and 201 days off the bench in the Nations League qualifier in Croatia in October 2018.
Asked to describe himself, Sancho said: “I’m a bit tricky, direct, confident – I believe in myself in one-on-one situations.”
His Borussia Dortmund team-mate Axel Witsel said last season: “He reminds me of Eden Hazard, and can be as good as him one day.”
This season has not all been plain sailing. He was dropped and fined after he was late returning from England duty last October and spoke to Gareth Southgate at length in November after he was hauled off after only 36 minutes in a heavy defeat by Bayern Munich.
“We’ve a duty of care to help him to progress and develop,” said Southgate.
Now his transfer value is rocketing but Dortmund’s chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said the club does not have to sell him.
But Manchester United fans believe he will join them while John Terry wants the Chelsea fan at Stamford Bridge next season.
All that is for tomorrow. But for today, have a very happy birthday, Jadon.