Previously a youth player with
Watford and
Manchester City, Sancho signed his first senior contract with
Borussia Dortmund in 2017. Over four seasons with the club he made 137 appearances and won the
2019 DFL-Supercup and the
2020–21 DFB-Pokal, where he finished as the tournament's top scorer. Sancho returned to England to sign for Manchester United in 2021, winning an
EFL Cup in his second season. He later returned to Dortmund on loan, reaching the
2024 UEFA Champions League final.
Jadon Malik Sancho[3] was born on 25 March 2000[4] in
Camberwell, Greater London,[5] to a mother from
Trinidad and Tobago and father of Jamaican and Guyanese descent.[6][7][8] He lived in the
Guinness Trust Building estate in
Kennington.[8][9][10][11] He became friends with fellow aspiring footballer
Reiss Nelson, who lived nearby, after they played together in youth tournaments.[12] Growing up, he was a
Chelsea fan and looked up to
Didier Drogba and
Frank Lampard.[13] Sancho's primary inspiration was
Ronaldinho saying in 2018 to
Sky Sports that "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."[14]
Club career
Early career
Sancho joined
Watford at the age of seven.[9] Due to issues with commuting across London to the club's academy, he moved into accommodation provided by Watford and began attending their partner school
Harefield Academy as a boarder, aged 11.[8][9] At the age of 14 he told his Watford under-15s coach about his intention to play for England.[15]
At the age of 14, he moved to
Manchester City in March 2015 for an initial fee of £66,000 under the
Elite Player Performance Plan, potentially rising to £500,000 with add ons.[16][17] Sancho continued to impress in the City academy and was one of a trio of players that City chairman,
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, said would be fast tracked into the senior set up in May 2017.[18][19] In July, Sancho was omitted from City's pre-season tour squad due to a dispute over assurances of playing time in a new contract.[20][21] It was subsequently reported that Sancho was attempting to engineer a move away from the club and City were alarmed at Sancho's attitude after he missed training following a pre-season tour.[22][23]
Borussia Dortmund
2017–2019
Sancho signed for German
Bundesliga club
Borussia Dortmund on 31 August 2017 for a fee reported to be in the region of £8 million and was immediately included in the first-team squad.[24][25] He later stated that he felt confident in making the move abroad due to his previous experiences in relocating with Watford and Manchester City.[9][8] Sancho made his debut for the club against
Eintracht Frankfurt on 21 October, coming on as a
substitute with six minutes left of the match, becoming the first Englishman to play a Bundesliga match for Dortmund.[26] Sancho made his first league start for Dortmund on 14 January 2018, hitting the woodwork in a goalless draw with
VfL Wolfsburg.[27] He scored his first professional goal on 21 April. It was the first goal in a 4–0 victory against
Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga and he also
assisted two other goals in the same match.[28]
Having signed a new contract keeping him at the club until 2022,[29] Sancho enjoyed a successful October 2018 by being named Bundesliga Player of the Month, registering three goals and an assist in just three league games.[30] Included among his goals for the month was a brace in a draw against
Hertha BSC which saw him become the first player born in the 2000s to score twice in a single Bundesliga match and the youngest ever by a Dortmund player.[31] On 24 October, he also became the first player born in the 2000s to score in the
UEFA Champions League for Dortmund against
Atlético Madrid.[32]
During a 3–3 draw with
TSG Hoffenheim on 9 February 2019, he became the youngest-ever player to score eight goals in a single Bundesliga season, breaking the record previously held by
Christian Wück.[33] Later that month, upon scoring in a 3–2 win over Bayer Leverkusen, he broke
Lukas Podolski's record to become the youngest player to score nine Bundesliga goals, aged 18 years and 336 days.[34] On 13 April, Sancho scored a brace in a 2–1 win over
Mainz 05 and in doing so became the youngest-ever Dortmund player to score at least 10 goals in a single Bundesliga campaign.[35] Following an impressive league campaign in which he scored 12 goals and provided 14 assists, Sancho was named in the
2018–19 Bundesliga Team of the Season.[36]
2019–2021
Success continued ahead of the
2019–20 season, with Sancho providing an assist and scoring in a 2–0
DFL-Supercup victory over Bayern Munich on 3 August 2019.[37] Later that month Sancho agreed a new contract with Dortmund.[38] In November, he was named runner-up in the
Golden Boy award.[39] The next month, he was named runner-up in the
Kopa Trophy award.[40] Sancho's goal in Dortmund's 3–3 draw with
RB Leipzig on 17 December meant he had scored in seven consecutive games for the club (including in
Champions League matches against
Barcelona and
Slavia Prague), bringing his tally up to 15 goals and 16 assists in the Bundesliga in the calendar year of 2019.[41] Sancho's three goals and three assists in five league matches during February 2020 saw him named
Bundesliga Player of the Month for the second time in his career.[42]
On 31 May 2020, Sancho scored his first career
hat-trick in a 6–1 away win over
SC Paderborn. After scoring his first goal, he removed his shirt to reveal a shirt with the message "Justice for
George Floyd", a black man who was
murdered earlier that week in Minneapolis by a police officer, who knelt on Floyd's neck until he became unresponsive.[43]
On 1 July 2021, it was announced that
Manchester United and Dortmund had reached an agreement for Sancho's transfer, subject to him signing a contract and passing a medical, both of which were expected to happen after
UEFA Euro 2020.[46] The transfer was completed on 23 July, for a reported transfer fee of £73 million (€85 million), after Sancho signed a five-year contract with the option of a further year.[47] On 14 August, he made his debut as a substitute for
Daniel James in a 5–1 home league win over
rivalsLeeds United.[48] On 23 November, he scored his first goal for the club, against
Villarreal to secure a spot in the knockout stage of the
Champions League.[49] Five days later. he scored his first Premier League goal against Chelsea after
Jorginho miscontrolled a long clearance from
Bruno Fernandes, allowing Sancho to take advantage of a two-on-one with
Édouard Mendy.[50]
Sancho scored his first goal of the 2022–23 season in a 2–1 home victory over Liverpool on 22 August 2022.[51] On 1 February 2023, he played in the EFL Cup semi-final second leg match against
Nottingham Forest, his first match since October 2022, as his team secured a place in the
final.[52] A week later, he came off the bench to score the equalising goal in a 2–2 draw at home to Leeds United.[53]
Sancho was not included in United's squad for their game against
Arsenal on 3 September 2023, with manager
Erik ten Hag explaining that Sancho was not picked due to "his performances in training", stating that players "have to reach a level every day at Manchester United". In response, Sancho wrote on social media that "I will not allow people saying things that is completely untrue, I have conducted myself very well in training this week... I've been a scapegoat for a long time which isn't fair!"[54] United then announced on 14 September that Sancho would train "away from the first team group pending resolution of a squad discipline issue."[55]
2024: Return to Borussia Dortmund on loan
On 11 January 2024, Sancho returned to former club Borussia Dortmund on
loan for the rest of the
2023–24 season following his desire to leave Manchester United after his exclusion from the squad by Erik ten Hag for disciplinary reasons.[56][57] The Germans paid Manchester United a reported €4 million loan fee.[58] On 13 January, Sancho featured in his first match since rejoining Dortmund, coming on as a substitute in the 55th minute of the game against
Darmstadt 98, which ended in a 3–0 win, with Sancho providing the assist for a goal from
Marco Reus.[59] On 9 March, Sancho scored against
Werder Bremen, drawing level with
Tony Woodcock as the top English goalscorer in the
Bundesliga.[60][61] Four days later, he scored against
PSV, as Dortmund secured their spot in the quarter-finals of the
Champions League.[61] On 1 May, he completed 12 dribbles against
Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-final first leg, the most from a player at that round since
Lionel Messi in 2008.[62] On 7 May, he reached his first
Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund.[63]
In May 2017, Sancho was part of the
England under-17 team that reached the final of the
UEFA European Under-17 Championship, and was named player of the tournament for his performances.[65] In September 2017, Sancho was named in
England's squad for the
2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup but the player's new German club resisted the call up.[66] The two parties eventually reached an agreement where he would be available for the group stages of the competition, but his participation was not guaranteed if England progressed to the knock out rounds.[67] On 8 October 2017, he scored twice in England U17's first match, against
Chile.[68] On 16 October, during England's round of 16 tie against
Japan, he was withdrawn from the competition by Borussia Dortmund.[69][9][8]
On 2 November 2017, Sancho was called up to the England U19 squad for the first time, joining them for
2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification matches against the
Faroe Islands,
Iceland and Group 8's host-nation team
Bulgaria.[70] He made his first start at U19 level in the 6–0 victory against the Faroes, lasting seventy minutes before being substituted for
Ben Brereton;[71] He replaced Brereton in the 66th minute in the win over Iceland, which secured progression to the elite round.[72] He scored the only goal of the match against Bulgaria to help England top their group.[73] Coming on as a substitute for Brereton, Sancho scored the last of the goals in England's 4–1 win over
Hungary in the first match of the elite round on 21 March 2018.[74]
Senior career
Following an impressive start to the
2018–19 season, Sancho was called up to the England senior squad for the first time on 4 October 2018 in preparation for
UEFA Nations League fixtures against
Croatia and
Spain.[75] He made his debut as a 78th-minute substitute against Croatia on 12 October, in a 0–0 away draw.[76][8] On 22 March 2019, Sancho started his first competitive match for England in their 5–0 win over the
Czech Republic at Wembley Stadium for a
UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying match.[77] During the September internationals, Sancho scored his debut goals for the senior team, a brace, in a 5–3 home victory over
Kosovo in a Euro 2020 qualifier on 10 September.[78]
On 11 July 2021, Sancho was brought on as a 120th-minute substitute for
Kyle Walker during the
UEFA Euro 2020 final against
Italy. He took England's fourth penalty in the subsequent shoot-out, which was saved by
Gianluigi Donnarumma. Following the 3–2 loss on penalties, Sancho along with
Marcus Rashford and
Bukayo Saka (who also missed penalties) were subjected to racially abusive messages on social media.[79]
Regarded as a quick, highly technical, and creative player, with excellent
dribbling skills and ball control, Sancho is known for his trickery and use of
feints in one-on-one situations and was described as one of the world's best young players during his Dortmund days.[81][82][83][84] Although he is known in particular for his ability to get past opponents and create chances for teammates, he is also capable of scoring goals himself.[84]