Jamie Gittens has changed his name since bursting onto the European scene, but he hasn’t shed his ‘next Jadon Sancho’ tag yet.
Chelsea have earmarked the England winger as the permanent replacement for Sancho, having opted against signing the latter.
Chelsea are looking for a right-footed winger who can play on the leftGettyThe Blues entered talks with Borussia Dortmund over their latest breakout England star in April in a deal over a decade in the making.
Gittens is under contract at Dortmund until 2028 and the German club value him at £35million, talkSPORT understands.
He became the youngest English player to score against Real Madrid in the Champions League, aged 20 years and 75 days in October.
However, the winger struggled to build on that showing since the turn of the year after falling out of favour under Niko Kovac.
He has not played a full 90 since January and only featured in a combined eight minutes in Dortmund’s last two matches this season.
A move to Chelsea would represent an opportunity to reignite his fortunes, with Enzo Maresca now on the hunt for a new wide player.
Gittens has been fittingly targeted after the Blues declined the opportunity to sign loanee Sancho on a permanent contract.
The latter has already followed in the Manchester United misfit’s footsteps from the Man City academy to Borussia Dortmund.
The difference this time is that Gittens had previously been on the books at Chelsea as a youngster before turning them down.
The London-born starlet started his youth career with his local side Caversham Trents, where his talent instantly shone through.
Gittens made some big decisions as a youngsterGettyHis former coach Martyn Beney told The Sun: “A month into his training with us, we were thinking ‘Christ, this boy has got some serious ability’.
“His dribbling was incredible, even as a six-year-old.
“Jamie was a shy boy behind the scenes, with a really nice, sporty family, but they didn’t push him.
“They said they wanted him to be coached in a way where he could enjoy it, learn a few things along the way and can develop naturally. That’s exactly what we did.
“We worked out quickly that he was a goal-scorer, and he scored a ridiculous number of goals.
“But he was happy to play anywhere. He would even go in goal at times, and he wasn’t bad.”
He followed Sancho’s path in leaving City for DortmundGetty Sancho was a major inspiration at the City AcademygettyGittens landed at Reading, but before long, Chelsea came calling with an offer to continue his development at Cobham.
He told The Secret Scout in 2020: “I went to Reading, and was also at Chelsea too for a bit.
“I got to Under-9s level where I had to pick between Reading and Chelsea. I picked Reading and stayed there until Under-14s.”
Then came another decision, with both City and Arsenal competing for his signature – but Sancho’s influence played its part again.
Gittens added: “It was an easy decision.
“I could have gone to Arsenal, but I chose City because they were producing players like Brahim Diaz and Jadon Sancho back then.”
Gittens was teammates with Jude Bellingham when he broke into senior footballGettyIt would surprise no one that Gittens would look to emulate his idol in heading for Dortmund after a two-year spell in Manchester.
Upon his arrival in Germany five years ago, he said: “When Sancho was at City, he was doing bits in the 18s, scoring every game.
“So in a way, I want to be like him.”
While Sancho made a flying start to life at BVB, injuries wreaked havoc on Gitten’s first two years at the club.
He didn’t make his senior debut until April 2022, with his first Bundesliga goal coming in the second game of the next season.
Following Jude Bellingham‘s exit, Gittens started to make a name for himself with five goals in seven games to start his 2024/25 campaign.
His father encouraged him to alter his name on his shirtGettyHis new lease of life coincided with a change of name on his shirt, having dropped the first part of his double-barrelled surname.
He previously used ‘Bynoe-Gittens’, with both parts of his original moniker coming from his Barbados-born dad.
Dortmund’s No.43 explained to the club’s media team: “Both are the names of my father, but he said that he thinks it’s better if I’m only called Gittens because it’s shorter.
“Most people know him as Gittens, so I’ll only play with Gittens too in the future.”
His surname is now one to watch out for, Chelsea fansGetty“The shorter the better”, he later told German outlet Bild, and so it proved to be on the pitch.
12 goals in 48 appearances marked Gittens’ most prolific campaign to date, despite his second-half struggles under Dortmund boss Kovac.
During the same period, Sancho flattered to deceive at Chelsea, meaning the next winger at the club won’t have a high bar to follow.
So finally, the ‘next Sancho’ might be about to make a name for himself…
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