Jadon Sancho was sidelined by Man United for several months, but a return to Borussia Dortmund on loan has already paid dividends.
Borussia Dortmund needed just one game to benefit from Jadon Sancho’s return to the Bundesliga.
Sancho registered assists in each of his first two Dortmund games after returning on loan from Manchester United. He later scored in a Champions League victory over PSV Eindhoven.
The 23-year-old had not played since August for his parent club but got right back into the groove in Germany, with Dortmund manager Edin Terzic revealing the wide man is “full of joy” since moving back to Signal Iduna Park.
It’s a version of Sancho that Sayce Holmes-Lewis recognises well. Holmes-Lewis, a coach and former footballer, first encountered Sancho when the winger was on Watford’s books at the age of six or seven, and saw him excel at the London Youth Games alongside their mutual friend and Arsenal winger Reiss Nelson.
Holmes-Lewis is still in regular contact with Sancho’s father Sean. He shared his memories of a young footballer beginning to once again show his quality. And, for a while at Old Trafford, as his relationship with Erik ten Hag became strained, that version of Jadon Sancho was nowhere to be seen.
Sancho’s story is a familiar one, with plenty of talented footballers finding things challenging in environments that couldn’t be further from those in which they grew up. Holmes-Lewis stresses the importance of having the right people around you. He further believes the return to Dortmund has already paid dividends.
Just like Nelson, Holmes-Lewis grew up on the Aylesbury Estate in South London. It is there where the pair opened a new 4G pitch, with Nelson’s club Arsenal and Holmes-Lewis’ mentoring charity Mentivity working together. At the opening in 2022, Nelson felt cage football in local communities is what moulded several Premier League players “into the players and characters that they are”, and Holmes-Lewis agrees.
As much as he recognises academies are attempting to replicate those environments, Holmes-Lewis feels it’s not as easy as doing the same thing without what made those games what they were to begin with. And if it’s becoming harder to develop the next Jadon Sancho, losing the potential of the one playing now would feel unforgivable.
Dortmund boss Terzic still believes there’s more to come from Sancho in his second spell with the club.