Jadon Sancho can be England’s ‘maverick’, says former youth coach
Jadon Sancho has hit the ground running again this season. One man who knows him better than most explains why this „maverick“ can shine for England.
Sancho set a new record last weekend, becoming the youngest player in history to score 15 Bundesliga goals. It’s an arbitrary number, but the context behind it has a far deeper, far more exciting meaning for both club and country.
The 19-year-old said this week playing in Germany has ‘taken off the pressure’ of the intense scrutiny he would face in the English game – and the news of his achievement last weekend made few headlines this side of the Channel. He has escaped the spotlight other mercurial English talents have had to endure, but that’s good, because few have had the talent he possesses.
Two years on from becoming the ballsy teenager who turned his back on Pep Guardiola to take an incredibly un-English path, backing himself on foreign shores which so few English talents have dared to dread, even fewer conquered, he is on a remarkable upward curve with little sign of slowing down.
Two goals, three assists in the opening three Bundesliga games of the season is just par for the course for him now. It’s more noteworthy when he doesn’t score than when he does.
Sancho breaks the English mould in so many more ways than just his nerve. His samba style, forged in the footballing cages of south London, his stubborn single-mindedness, in a world where young players are criticised for chasing money over success, and, in the words of a man who helped set him on the path to success, a ‘maverick’ – something so at odds with our homegrown talent, even with the improvements St George’s Park have brought over the past decade.
He is already a cult hero at the Westfalenstadion. They love him and he loves them. Dortmund have handed him vastly-improved terms on a new contract, without demanding he extends his deal, such is his level of importance to the club even with less than a season’s worth of Bundesliga starts under his belt.
Even 21 years on from his last England game, people still talk about Paul Gascoigne, another true maverick, like few others since. For years England fans have looked longingly at other countries’ special players, who can change the game in the blink of an eye.
Sancho’s spark is something that will set him apart for club and country, his former youth coach and now Taiwan national team manager Louis Lancaster tells Sky Sports ahead of England’s game with Bulgaria at Wembley this Saturday.
„I think he’s going to continue to surprise people,“ he said. „His game is so fast-paced, it’s very direct. When a player gets the ball, they’ve got a soft option, get the stats up, make the simple pass, or you can make it 75 per cent of the time but everything’s forward. What you’re seeing from Jadon is a 19-year-old boy with a lot of maturity.
„It’s great that Gareth Southgate is giving the youth a chance, other countries use these flair players because they trust them – they can be a hero or a villain. They might not track that runner or something like that, but when it’s the 89th minute they might produce something magical.
„It’s like a computer game – you might have a favourite character because they have a signature move. I think players need that. With Jadon, the best players might have two aspects of their game which are 10/10, but a couple more which are five or six. But those signatures help them get where they are. When you’re working with players like Jadon, you have a question to ask yourself ‘do you develop the strength, or work on the weaknesses?’.
„I worked on my Pro Licence on ‘what is a maverick? How do you get the best out of them?’ I interviewed managers, players and mavericks themselves – and I interviewed Jadon. Even when he was younger he was completely fearless, and he always wanted to be the best player.
„I always ask young players three questions. The first is ‘what’s the dream?’ When I asked him, he looked me clear in the face and said ‘I want to play for one of Europe’s top clubs and represent my country’. I asked him why? And he said ‘to make my family proud of me’. He can’t have been any older than 13.“
There is plenty of flair in the England attacking line-up – Raheem Sterling will be frustrated Virgil van Dijk’s first full season at Anfield coincided with his own best year by far, for instance – but already the signs are there Sancho can match him and Marcus Rashford, his two main rivals to play alongside Harry Kane in attack.
He has several years on both but has wasted no time worrying about his age. No one completed more dribbles per game in last season’s Bundesliga than Sancho. 3.3 against Sterling’s 2.4 in the Premier League is impressive, even for any question marks over directly comparing the two divisions. He scored almost a goal every other game and registered more assists than any other player in Germany’s top flight.
Away from the hype of the English spotlight, the question as to how good Sancho can be has not been asked as much as his two rivals to join Kane, who, like him, both set the pace at a young age. But perhaps it’s one that should be. Sport’s greatest athletes have a burning desire every bit as exceptional as their natural talent.
And in an era where players’ heads can be turned by a million and one things, Sancho’s tunnel vision is showing no signs of slowing down as he constantly looks for his next challenge.
„I’m extremely proud of what he’s doing, but I don’t even think you’ve seen one tenth of what’s to come,“ says Lancaster. „He’s going to keep pushing and pushing and pushing.
„When he was a kid in training, if we had 14 players, I don’t like to go 7 vs 7 just because it looks beautiful. I’d say to him, we’re going to go 9 vs 5 instead, and he’d say put me on the five because he wants to be challenged.
„You’re talking about a young boy, willing to move away from his family for sport. That takes a lot of guts. You can measure him on his dribbles, his goals, but how much courage does that take? How much courage does he have? It takes a lot.
„That’s someone who has a dream and will do anything to get there. Steve Redgrave, Usain Bolt, it’s like an iceberg – you only see the top, not the stuff going on underneath how they got there. That’s him.“
Watch highlights of England’s European Qualifiers vs Bulgaria on Saturday and Kosovo on Tuesday.
The best bits from each game will be available on SkySports.com, the Sky Sports app and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel from 15 minutes after full-time – and you won’t need a Sky Sports subscription to tune in.
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
.
