Last night, Jadon Sancho scored the opener and assisted the winner for Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League against Slavia Prague. The young Englishman has been rather quietly having an absolutely cracking season for the German giants – he has contributed to over 45.4% over Dortmund’s league goals in the first half of the Bundesliga season.
So far this season, he has bagged himself a very impressive ten goals in all competitions – only three less than he got in the whole of last season. He’s also managed to continue his incredible ability to assist his teammates, notching up 11 on the season.
A nugget of history
At this moment in time, he’s in an absolutely cracking vein of form – he’s scored in each of his last five appearances in the league and Champions League combined, bagging six goals in those games. That includes an impressive brace against Dusseldorf at the weekend, a goal against Hertha and a consolation at Camp Nou against Barcelona.
That goal against Barca made the youngster just the fourth Englishman to score at the home of the Spanish champions, behind Andrew Cole (Chelsea), Steve McManaman (Real Madrid) and Frank Lampard (Chelsea). Although technically he’s now classed as Nigerian because he decided to represent them at international level, I can’t not mention Shola Ameobi on that list as well. The Geordie legend bagged their for the Magpies in the Champions League back in 2002.
Either way, some illustrious company to be in for the Dortmund star. If I’m being honest, by the time he retires, I fully expect Sancho to have surpassed all of those names I mentioned him alongside – well, perhaps not Shola…
Jadon Sancho Stat Attack
In the Bundesliga and Champions League alone this season, Sancho has played his part in 18 matches in total. In those games, he has completed 48 dribbles, an average of 2.6 per game. He’s also created 32 chances in total, an average of 1.78 per game – to go alongside that, he’s scored nine times and assisted nine other goals. Not many midfielders in European football have enjoyed form of that level this season.
As I mentioned earlier, Sancho has contributed to 45.4% of all of Dortmund’s 33 goals in Bundesliga this season – that’s over 15% more contribution to Dortmund skipper Marco Reus. As well as that, he’s had a direct contribution to exactly 50% of Dortmund’s goals in the UCL. In total across those two competitions, Sancho has had a hand in 46% of Dortmund’s goals this season – absolutely pivotal to their attack.
Verdict
If your name is Gareth Southgate – with the likes of Jadon Sancho and Raheem Sterling flanking Harry Kane in the attack for England – it makes for a very exciting future for the England national team. I’m sure the England boss will be licking his chops at the form of Sancho – to be fair, he’d be silly not to be.
If I’m being totally honest, there isn’t many players, away from the likes of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, that I’d rather have in my team than Jadon Sancho right now. At just 19-years-old, he’s becoming an oustanding footballer – I’m sure there’ll be plenty of interest from Europe’s elite for his services in the coming months.
I wonder if he fancies Newcastle…
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