We all know Jadon Sancho as the Borussia Dortmund stunner and the one of best young players of his generation. It’s been almost two and half months since he left the German club and stepped into the Premier League. Currently operating as a winger in the Manchester United squad, he is yet to display what he is capable of and contribute towards bringing victories to The Reds Devils. Coming from the under-appreciated German league, Bundesliga, there are many factors that he has to adapt to in England, some of them being the fast-paced and physical skill needed. As he gears up to score a goal and make an assist in the nearing matches, we would like to shed light on some fascinating facts about him.
1. Roots tracing back to the Caribbean
On 25th March 2000, in South London, specifically in the district of Camberwell, Jadon Malik Sancho was born to parents hailing from Trinidad and Tobago, the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. He is therefore of Caribbean descent.
2. A by-product of Street-Football
Growing up in the residential neighborhood of Kennington, Sancho found his interests in the sport and focused on it amid the challenging environment of the area he lived in. According to the Bundesliga website, the place Sancho grew up in had ‘high crime rates’. This made it less possible for potential prospects in young adults to be found in the area.
Sancho himself confirmed this factor of his childhood days when he said, “After school, I just wanted to play football. Around me a lot of people were doing some bad things, but I didn’t want anything to do with that.”
In an interview with Star Sports, he described his playground as a park, called Blue Park, located behind the estate that he was on. He and the other children would play there for two hours. He recalled having ‘all the tricks’ and nutmegging people and doing it like the older boys present there did.
He says, “I’d call myself a street footballer, that’s where I learned my tricks and through football I looked at the big players, I think it really helped me.”
When he later would later join Manchester City, the young phase coordinator Mark Burton said that Sancho did have a little of street football in him along with flair, inventiveness and imagination.
Centering his attention on football itself, he joined his local school football team and learnt and developed various football skills in the streets which, in turn, helped him get away from the scenarios of the area he lived in and thus ‘the beautiful game’ carved him a potential future of great success.
3. Joined Watford FC. the tender age of seven
The Englishman’s exceptional abilities on the pitch played magnet to the attention of The Hornets and was picked up by their development centre. After a training session with a youth team, Sancho signed a contract with them.
However, due to commuting difficulties, he moved in with an aunt who lived closer to Watford’s partner school, Harefield Academy in West London. This resulted in Sancho joining the boarding school at Harefield, leaving behind his mother, sisters and anyone that was close to him.
He has admitted that joining the boarding school at Warford (Harefield) was truly beneficial as they paid for everything and took him out of the area where he lived, but it was difficult to adapt to the new surroundings and was naturally feeling out of place as he missed everyone back home.
An incident he recalls which made him pull up his socks and get his head in the game was when Watford told him that if he didn’t fix his attitude, they would have no choice but to release him.
4. He played for the Manchester City youth team
As the 21-year-old impressed the Watford academy as a youth player, at the age of 14, in 2015, he caught the attention of Manchester City with other English clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal, also in the run to sign him.
In the end, the Citizens emerged as winners and they signed him for a reported fee of £500,000. Sancho continued to dazzle the Man City academy, scoring 12 goals and providing four assists in 14 matches in the 2016-17 season. He also scored two goals in UEFA Youth League, the youth equivalent of the UEFA Champions League.
He was then promoted to the Manchester City reserve side, where he again impressed with three goals and two assists. It all was going well, until 2017, when he had a dispute with the officials over playing time and was omitted from the pre-season tour squad and he did not make an appearance in the Man City first team.
This led to Jadon Sancho finding his place in the German club, Bundesliga who gave him the offer of becoming a first-team player and eventually signed him for a deal of around £8m. Thus, he made his debut in the yellow jersey on 21st October 2017.
5. A Fan of Ronaldinho
Like many young and up-and-coming players, Sancho idolized the legendary Brazilian football sensation Ronaldinho.
In an interview with Sky Sports, Sancho says, “Ronaldinho was a big influence on me, watching him on YouTube, he used to do things that other people didn’t really used to do.”
6. Sharing Watford memories with Reiss Nelson
Arsenal winger Reiss Nelson, currently on loan to Eredivisie club Feyenoord, is a fellow Watford academy-product to Jadon Sancho.
In an interview, Sancho said that Reiss and himself got better acquainted and close to each other when they would play in Southwark youth games. They would always ‘link up and do little things’.
Sayce Holmes-Lewis, one of their first youth coaches at Watford recalls, “I saw him (Sancho) for the first time when he was at Watford, when he was six. He was already an excellent player. I was dazzled by his technique and his skills.”
“Above all, he played with a smile on his face. He always played a lot of football, with the game in his life, like Reiss Nelson, his best friend.”
Holmes-Lewis also went on to describe that the duo’s bond was that of a brotherhood.
7. A young poet?
As a young boy, Sancho lost his brother and he wrote a poem in primary school dedicating it to him and he read it out at the funeral. He has this particular poem inked on his left forearm. In an interview with Star Sports he revealed that, it was his first-ever tattoo and the most meaningful one.
The heart-warming poem goes:
You and me will stay together, you made us happy, you brought us joy, you were a special baby boy. I couldn’t wait till you grew up, teach you football and win the cup. But you’re gone what can I do? Baby brother, we love you.
This poem inked on his arm is surrounded by birds, heaven, one angel and a butterfly and his sister’s and brother’s initials.
Sancho also has other tattoos on his right arm, that are a collection of the various cartoon characters in the comics that he liked when he was younger. The collection includes tattoos of Spiderman, Sonic and The Simpsons.
8. Youngest ever player to reach 50 assists in Bundesliga.
On 27th February 2021, Sancho assisted Mahmoud Dahoud’s opener in the 48’ minute against Arminia Bielefeld which Dortmund emerged as winners with score of 3-0.
This completed the 50th assist streak of Englishman who achieved this feat in just 99 appearances in the German league.
9. Scoring impressive records at Bundesliga
Playing for Borussia Dortmund against Belgian club, Club Brugge KV, Sancho became the first English player to score a direct free-kick at the 45’ minute on 25th November, 2020, for an overseas club in the UEFA Champions League, since David Beckham scored for Real Madrid against Rosenborg in 2005.
The jersey number 25 finished the 2019-20 Bundesliga season with 17 assists and 16 goals. As a result, he became the first English player to score more than 15 goals and 15 assists in a major European league since Matt Le Tissier for Southampton back in the 1994-95 Premier League season.
10. Nicknamed ‘The Rocket’
At the Watford academy, Sancho earned the nickname, ‘The Rocket’ among the players and staff as he possessed and displayed rapid pace and unique trickery.
The fans at Borussia Dortmund called him ‘The Assist King’, as he regularly played his role exceptionally well as a winger and provided great numbers of assist to the forwards in the squad.
11. A low-profile on Social Media
Though Sancho does have Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts, in contrast to some players in his generation, he chooses to keep a low profile on his accounts. Most of his Instagram posts are related to his professional life. There are only some posts on his Instagram feed that related to his family and friends.
On Twitter too, he remains low-key and tweets about his football career, with very limited mention of his social circle.
12. Endorsements and Sponsors
Renowned footwear company Nike, has Sancho as one of it’s biggest faces. They have even launched a shoe collection after him named The SE11 Sancho Collection.
Sancho also gets frequently featured on the EA Sports and the FIFA franchise’s posters and promotional advertisements in the recent years.
13. Football is the only love in Sancho’s life
Reportedly, Sancho is said to be single. In the public eye, he has not been seen with any partner nor has he announced anything regarding his private life. From this, one can infer that he is only focused on football and wants to prosper in the sport or that he has chosen his romantic life private.
14. Net Worth
As of 2021, Sancho is said of have a net worth of approximately $8million. His earnings are reportedly said to be a weekly salary of a whopping £350,00 at Manchester United.
