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It is still unclear how the coronavirus pandemic will affect the transfer window. But when it finally opens and the buying and selling begins again, Jadon Sancho will surely be one of the main protagonists.
The striker, who turned 20 in March, has become one of the most exciting young players in the world since trading Manchester City for Borussia Dortmund in 2017. When the Bundesliga returns on Saturday, it is likely to start at Revierderby against rivals Schalke. a game that you can follow live on Sky Sports digital platforms.
However, there is less certainty about their long-term future. Dortmund is hopeful that Sancho, who is valued at around £ 100 million, will stay at the club this summer, but a source close to the 20-year-old told Sky Sports News that he is still likely to move away from Dortmund. , with Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool said they were among their suitors.
A generational talent
Sancho was in irrepressible form before the closing this season, accumulating 14 goals and 15 assists in 23 Bundesliga appearances. With nine games of the season still to play, he has already surpassed his totals for the entire 2018/19 campaign, during which he recorded 12 goals and 14 assists in 34 games.
The numbers are exceptional by anyone’s standards. In fact, Sancho’s combined total of 29 goals and assists this season puts him behind just two players in Europe’s major leagues, and one of them is Lionel Messi.
What makes it even more impressive, of course, is that Sancho has done all of this when he was a teenager.
With a combined total of 60 first-rate goals and assists so far, he has accumulated more than double that of Messi on his twentieth birthday. His totals also outshine those of Eden Hazard and Raheem Sterling. He has scored almost twice as many goals as a teenager Cristiano Ronaldo in all competitions.
In fact, the only player in the last decade to achieve a higher total of high-level goals and assists when he was still a teenager is Kylian Mbappe, who burst onto the scene in Monaco before joining his Ligue 1 Paris rivals. Saint-Germain at age. from 18 in 2017 in a deal valued in the region of £ 165 million.
Mbappe, 18 months older than Sancho at 21, is now considered the next superstar in the game. But Sancho’s record requires that it be placed on the same media. He’s a generational talent and he’s just getting better.
The way how it has evolved
Sancho’s numbers for goals and assists show his extraordinary effectiveness in the final third, but they do not tell the full story of his evolution as a player.
While he played almost exclusively on the right flank in 2018/19, his first season as a regular starter, Sancho has been used in a variety of positions this season, playing centrally at times, but more frequently on the left, where he is. able to cut the inside of your foot harder.
That versatility has allowed Dortmund to vary his attacking lineup and keep his opponents guessing, and it has also helped the speed and skill that Sancho honed on the South London concrete courts as a youngster now are complemented by a better decision making.
“He manages to create dangerous situations with his technique, his speed, his dribbling,” said Thomas Muller of Bayern Munich earlier this season. “There are other dribblers with similar qualities in the Bundesliga, but they don’t have this excellent decision-making.”
You can see it in the statistics. In addition to scoring and setting goals at an even faster rate than last season, Sancho has also lost possession less frequently. His number of unsuccessful touches has been reduced from 3.4 for 90 minutes last season to 2.3 this season. It has gone from being stripped 2.3 times for 90 minutes to 1.2 times this season.
The data shows a better understanding of when to take risks and when to play safely, and, crucially for any broad player in the modern game, there has also been evidence of a defensive improvement.
“Jadon has become more complete and more efficient in his offensive actions, and is slowly learning to defend himself,” Jurgen Koers, a journalist who covers Borussia Dortmund for Ruhr Nachrichten, tells Sky Sports. “In his best games, he often does the most sprints for Dortmund players because he’s also starting to help with defensive work.”
Sancho is tracking with more dedication, but he is also defending from the front. Dortmund, like many of the best teams in the Premier League, uses high-pressure tactics to force its opponents to make mistakes in dangerous areas. Sancho is sixth in the Bundesliga in terms of possession gained in the last third of this season, ahead of any other player in Dortmund.
However, there have been occasional indiscretions. In October, Sancho was fined for being late for training after international service. In November, Lucien Favre hooked him in the first half of a loss to Bayern Munich: “I think you saw he wasn’t good enough,” the Dortmund boss explained, and then he fell for a Champions League meeting with the Barcelona.
But any doubts about his professionalism did not last long.
“Jadon had some problems with those problems, but more for being a little distracted rather than being an undisciplined type of person,” adds Koers. “He is not someone who causes problems for any reason. He understands that being a professional soccer player at this level means being professional in all aspects of his life.”
Sancho has adapted well to life in Dortmund and is a popular figure in the dressing room. Marco Reus has been his mentor, who has spoken about his mentality, and Favre has also received high praise.
“He knows I like him and we all like him, both as a player and as a person,” he said in December. “He’s a good boy who helps us a lot on a regular basis.”
“I have rarely seen a player who has come this far at such a young age.”
The clubs chasing his signature
Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea are Sancho’s main suitors in the Premier League, according to Sky Sports News, while his former club Manchester City could also enter the race for his signature, as they know his talents well and have the option to match any offer for it.
Elsewhere in Europe, Barcelona has been credited with an interest, while Dortmund’s Bundesliga title rival Bayern Munich is also said to be interested.
Sancho remained cautious when asked about his future during media appearances, but given the number of clubs that accompanied him and the fierce ambition that brought him to Dortmund in the first place, it is no wonder that there is an air of inevitability. about what happens next.
“Dortmund always targets high potential players, but Jadon’s development is extraordinary,” says Koers. “They would only sell him for a large amount of money and if Jadon emphasized that he wants to leave the club. But of course, if the transfer fee increases to 150 million euros, the negotiations could start anyway.”
Sancho would prefer to move to a club that competes in the Champions League, according to Sky Sports News. That could rule out United, currently fifth in the Premier League, three points behind Chelsea, but it certainly fits in with the club’s recent policy of signing young British players like Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Harry Maguire and Daniel James.
It would also be a good option for the Chelsea youth team. Frank Lampard has won applause for the way he has helped develop academy products like Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham this season, but he has made no secret of his team’s need for a greater vanguard against the finish line and Sancho’s record suggests who would provide that. .
It’s also easy to see why Liverpool is interested. Sancho’s progress will not have gone unnoticed for Klopp, who spent seven years in Dortmund before moving to Anfield, and the 20-year-old’s high-speed and intense style of play would make him perfect for his Liverpool team’s focus.
The question there, however, would be how to fit it into the team. With Mohamed Salah on one flank and Sadio Mane on the other, there is little room on the Klopp side for another wide player who would surely expect to be used as a regular starter.
A move to Barcelona could make sense given the need for a new attack drive at the Camp Nou, where Messi and Luis Suárez are approaching the later stages of their careers, and Bayern cannot be ruled out either given their history to attract the best Dortmund players. to the Allianz Arena.
It remains to be seen when exactly the transfer window will open. We still don’t know which clubs will test Dortmund’s resolve with more force. But what is already clear is that Jadon Sancho has a future at the top. This Saturday’s meeting with Schalke is another opportunity for him to show it off.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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