Four youngsters who could inspire England to future glory

#3: Jadon Sancho

Jadon Sancho

A common criticism of England sides over recent years – going back as far as the 90’s and the dawn of the Premier League era – is that their players tend to be too insular, as almost none of them play their club football abroad outside of one or two notable exceptions. That could be about to change, as the Bundesliga in particular has recently seen an influx of young English talent looking for game time in a top-class league as breaking into Premier League sides becomes ever harder.

The most notable of these young stars is undoubtedly Jadon Sancho. Initially coming through Watford’s academy system, Sancho ended up at Manchester City where he was expected to break through at some point in the future. Last summer though, the then-17 year old made a massive decision. Recognising that playing time would be slim at City, he made the move to Germany with Borussia Dortmund and was incredibly handed the #7 jersey that was vacated by Ousmane Dembele.

It took Sancho some time to settle in the Bundesliga, but by the time 2017/18 was coming to an end, he made his way into Dortmund’s first team and was able to make 7 starts, assisting in 4 goals and scoring 1, and he was named Man of the Match in Dortmund’s 4-0 destruction of Bayer Leverkusen in April.

A fleet-footed attacker with tremendous natural dribbling ability as well as an eye for a key pass, Sancho also impressed at the U17 World Cup in 2017, scoring 4 goals in the group stage before being recalled by Dortmund prior to the knockout phase beginning. If he can pick up in 2018/19 where he left off in 2017/18 then he could become a major star in Germany – and will surely be knocking on the door of England’s senior squad sooner rather than later.