The inside story on Jadon Sancho by our Secret Scout
EVERYBODY in the football world knew about Jadon Sancho when he was at Manchester City and indeed before that when he was at Watford. It was not hard to be impressed. He was the jewel in the crown at that junior age group, a clever wide player with athleticism and speed. His problem was that at City he could see blockades in terms of progress to the first team. He looked at other talent at the club — such as Brandon Barker — and how tough they were finding it was to break through. There was lots of interest from other Premier League clubs who wanted to take him, but his agents were clever and busy and realised that there were opportunities abroad for him. I don’t think he particularly wanted to leave Manchester — where he was happy — but he had already had the courage to move north from Watford at a young age and was prepared to take an even bigger step. Interestingly, I saw him last season play for Dortmund in an Under 21 European game. He played centrally and didn’t actually play that well. He was ordinary. I know that a few other coaches and scouts present that day wondered if the whole thing was proving too much for him. But I believe he has kicked on again since then and he still has that enthusiasm, vitality and speed of youth. When I first wrote about him, he had nutmegged his defender twice, which impressed me with his improvisation, but I noted that he must not let confidence become arrogance. I also recorded that he ‘could be worth a lot of money in due course’. It is worth remembering that he is not often in the team at Dortmund at present, having made just one start in the Bundesliga all season. But he is dangerous coming off the bench and setting up goals against tired defending. Gareth Southgate thinks he is ready for England and it will be interesting to see if he is right. In the Secret Scout column we have already drawn attention to Mason Mount and James Maddison and it is a joy to see them all training on. I wish them all the very best of luck.