JADON SANCHO is within sight of the Bundesliga title today – and says his journey sends out a message to English youngsters.
The England forward, 19, needs his Borussia Dortmund to beat Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayern Munich to lose against Eintracht Frankfurt to secure glory, two years after arriving in Germany.
Sancho has been hailed as a trailblazer for other youngsters who find opportunities limited in the Premier League but get their chance abroad.
From playing as a kid in South London, he has risen to the top of European football after playing Academy football just two seasons ago.
Sancho said: “I feel like I gave youngsters now a pathway of just saying, ‘Just don’t limit yourself. There’s opportunities out there if you just stay focused and just keep working hard every day’.
"I feel like it’s a good way for the youth to stop doing bad things and look at my situation and say, ‘If I can do it, he can do it’.”
Sancho’s journey started in Kennington before playing for Watford and Manchester City in the youth system.
He said: “If you’re in an estate there’s always someone kicking a football and that’s kind of a must, you just have to play football because there’s nothing else.
“I feel like it’s another way to stop doing bad things as well, especially coming from obviously a poor background and it just takes you away from that negativity.”
KEEPING STRONG
Speaking on State of Play, a BT Sport film, Sancho says foreign clubs can give youngsters the chance to progress quickly to the first team.
He pushed for his move to Dortmund from City as he looked for a chance to play regular first-team football.
Wales winger Rabbi Matondo secured a big-money move from City to Schalke in January with Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith-Rowe on loan to Bundesliga clubs from Arsenal.
But Sancho says success is not guaranteed for the young Brits abroad.
He added: “I think it’s because I’m English and it’s very rare for English players going abroad so that’s what makes it blown up a bit.
“But my situation isn’t easy. People might think that because I’ve done it, every youngster can do it.
“I’ve just been away from home from young and I’ve just kept strong.
You’ve just got to keep strong and just keep focused… keep motivating yourself and achieving new things. You set yourself targets and being able to do it is just a great feeling.
"My downs were really down and my ups have really been ups so I’ve just had people helping me through my journey.
“I’ve just kept strong and kept working hard and some people might lose focus because obviously you might not play if you go to a new club and you really let them down. It’s everything really.
“You’ve just got to keep strong and just keep focused and keep motivating yourself and achieving new things that you set yourself targets and being able to do it is just a great feeling.”
Ex-Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger, now Head of Sport at Stuttgart, says English youngsters are talented and represent great value to German clubs.
He said: “In order to be successful we have to get the best players.
“Now we’ve become a league to educate players and because we don’t have the talent and don’t have that quality, we take on English players.
“They come to Germany, play for a couple of seasons and go back to the Premier League.
“We support them in their career. That’s how far we’ve come, because we thought a few years ago this could be the final target for them, you want to play in the Bundesliga in the prime of your career but we’re not there anymore.
"Everybody wants to play in the Premier League or some want to play in La Liga. These players have speed, technique. I think the players have been developed.
“When they were developed over the past few years it was about the individual. In Germany it was the opposite.
“We haven’t spent enough time coaching them on the pitches. That’s why we don’t have the individual quality that you see in France, in England, Spain mainly.”
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