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The German Bundesliga will be under microscopic scrutiny from the soccer-loving world like never before this weekend.
Literally the only decent show in town, its resumption amidst the Covid-19 crisis will lead its clubs and players to fresh and curious audiences of millions.
And one of the main fascinations, especially for those English fans who don’t usually spend a Saturday afternoon watching Germany’s top flight, will be how Jadon Sancho gets along.
And if Sancho, and this is very likely due to his 17 goals and 19 assists this season, help Borussia Dortmund win their Revierderby against bitter rival Schalke on Saturday, some minds will start to ramble and wonder.
Supporters of Manchester City, for example, will be excused for asking how exactly Sancho, a gem of his academy, was able to leave for Dortmund for just £ 8 million in 2017.
It looks pretty bad at first glance. With every impressive run, needle-eye pass or completion accomplished by the 20-year-old English star, the feeling of ‘he’s the one who got away’ grows.
And it could be even worse if, as expected, Sancho returns to the Premier League to one of the City’s rivals, such as Manchester United or Chelsea, when the summer transfer window opens.
But it is not as simple as all that. Certainly, there doesn’t seem to be a great sense of despair in the city that Sancho left and flourished elsewhere, without much investigation or introspection.
Let’s not forget that Pep Guardiola’s team has won consecutive Premier League titles since Sancho’s departure, accumulating 198 points and breaking all kinds of records in the process.
They also lifted the FA Cup and completed a League Cup 3-point win at the time, making it hardly pessimistic at Etihad.
And while City will have the contractual option to match any offer United or Chelsea or whoever makes Dortmund for Sancho, and it is likely to be £ 100 million or more, they are not likely to strive to get it back.
Let’s not fool ourselves. City knew they had outstanding talent when they paid £ 66,000, reaching £ 500,000 with accessories to sign 15-year-old Sancho from Watford in March 2015.
In his debut for his under-18 team, playing against opponents who were three years his senior, Sancho scored twice. His impressed coach Jason Wilcox described his performance as “sensational”.
Soon the compilations and featured reels were flooding social media and YouTube, and the buzz grew and grew.
In the 2016-17 season, he scored 13 goals in 15 games for under-18s, three goals in seven for under-23s and two in six for the UEFA Youth League U19 team.
It wasn’t long before the academy coaches talked that Sancho had been quickly dispatched to Pep Guardiola’s first-team squad alongside contemporaries Phil Foden and Brahim Díaz.
In May 2017, President Khaldoon Al-Mubarak said Guardiola will promote Sancho, Foden and Díaz to the first team team. Ironically, it was in part in response to claims that City did not produce local talent for its first team.
In reality, despite impressive goal returns, Foden and Diaz were considered ahead of him in their development and that was even before considering the array of world-class talents in City’s first team.
Competition for places was fierce and Sancho faced the possibility of competing with Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva for opportunities. Then the city would go buy Riyad Mahrez for £ 60m.
It was certainly a congested route to first-team stardom, blocked by established international players who were serial trophy winners. Regardless of what the coaches and the president said, there were no guarantees, and at best it would probably be two or three years before I sniffed.
So when Dortmund promised the No. 7 jersey, plenty of playing time, and Champions League football right away, it’s no wonder Sancho’s head turned.
The city eventually accepted Dortmund’s £ 8 million offer, but efforts were made to persuade Sancho to stay. They offered to make Sancho the highest-paid academy player in history and determined that he did not transfer to a Premier League rival.
But clearly there was a lot they could do and what was undoubtedly a bet for Sancho at that time has been worth it.
31 goals and 42 assists in 90 games for Dortmund resulted in Sancho becoming a regular in England at the age of 20.
So far only the cutlery has escaped him, but the main fascination of the returning Bundesliga is whether Dortmund can close the current four-point gap for Bayern Munich leaders.
The experience of the two contemporaries of the city of Sancho is also instructive.
Diaz, also 20, played 15 games for the City’s first team, largely from the substitute bench or in the League Cup.
He decided to sign for Real Madrid in a £ 15.5 million deal in January 2019 and will try to make a name for himself there, but playing time is limited and competition is strong.
Foden, 19, has amassed 62 games for City and has two Premier League medals, one from the FA Cup and three from the League League.
That’s without actually playing a full role in any of those wins, but his chance is expected to come next season when David Silva gives way and will certainly prosper. When he does, he will also be on the England team.
So it’s hard to know if Sancho would have kicked in City the same way he did in Dortmund or not.
Unquestionably given the competition for places, I would not have enjoyed so much playing time. But there’s no reason he doesn’t have the same bunch of medals as Foden.
Guardiola has spoken about Sancho’s departure, but seems more disappointing not knowing if he would have made it to the City or not.
“I didn’t want to accept this challenge, this opportunity to find out if I could,” Guardiola said in March last year.
‘He decided to go there. So it’s perfect. Everything is going well and congratulations on what you are doing.
‘He’s doing an incredible performance. He did incredibly well this season. What would have happened this season? [here]? I do not know.’
As for Sancho, he has always been careful not to criticize City for not detecting his abundant talents.
“When I left, there were a lot of people who doubted me, they were like ‘oh, you shouldn’t have left Pep Guardiola’, but I thought it was the best thing for me,” he told FourFourTwo.
“I still have a love for Pep, I still love everyone at the club because they took me out of Watford and helped me become who I am today.”
Perhaps the feeling of regret will come home to City if Sancho scrambles at United or Chelsea and transforms them into title contenders next season.
For now, Sancho has a unique opportunity to continue to shine for Dortmund as the entire world watches with admiration.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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