The comparisons were always going to prove irresistible. With each goal or assist, Borussia Dortmund’s latest English youngster has become “the next Jadon Sancho.”
Nevermind that Jamie Bynoe-Gittens predominantly operates on the opposite wing. That the 18-year-old went from London to Manchester before making his senior breakthrough at Dortmund is enough.
And while Jude Bellingham, presumably in his final months wearing the yellow and black of the Bundesliga’s second-best team, will command most of the attention when Chelsea ’s humble billion-pound squad turns up at Westfalenstadion on Wednesday evening, they must also beware yet another player within their academy reach who ended up going elsewhere.
Bynoe-Gittens has become one of the Bundesliga’s breakout stars and having missed the entire group stage owing to injury, is primed for his Champions League debut at the knockout stages.
As an eight-year-old, Bynoe-Gittens flitted between Chelsea and Reading before deciding to turn out for the Berkshire side from under-9 level until he turned 14 and was tempted north to Man City despite Arsenal also chasing his signature.
“At the start, I didn’t really believe it. I’m from a small town in the middle of nowhere. When they told me that they wanted me, I was just surprised, but thought that all the hard work I had put in was paying off,” he said in an interview with secretscout.co.uk.
“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.”
At City he made a near instant impact for the under-18 team - coming off the bench to score in a 5-2 win over Liverpool a couple of weeks after turning 15 - but, like Sancho, he headed towards north-west Germany in September 2020, where the path to regular senior football is better worn.
Bynoe-Gittens’ progression has been near linear since. A senior debut arrived late last season before he scored his first goal in the second round of fixtures this season, a 3-1 win Freiburg.
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A dislocated shoulder sustained in September sidelined him for four months, but since returning in January his high-energy impact off the bench as opponents tire has won plenty of admirers.
Two more goals have arrived, including the opener away to Werder Bremen on Saturday a minute after coming on, and one gushing piece on the Bundesliga’s official website compared him to not just Sancho but Neymar.
There is certainly no shortage of flair and trickery; the sort of daring, fearless play that is honed from playing unorganised, chaotic football in the playground.
“I think it’s just natural,” Bynoe-Gittens said in that secretscout piece of his penchant for trickery, which has not yet been curbed by his step up to the big leagues. “In school, there would be 50 of us on the astros at lunch time. You can just be you and do whatever you want – skills, stepovers, flicks over people’s heads.
“Being a winger, the coaches tell you to be yourself, an entertainer to the fans. You’ve got to keep trying new stuff and hopefully it will work out in a game.”
Bynoe-Gittens may not be in the starting XI on Wednesday evening, but if the tie is close his entrance off the bench could leave Chelsea’s unsettled defence in a daze.
