5 Premier League wonderkids who did well in the Bundesliga
One of the currently ongoing transfer sagas of the current window surrounds the future of England wonderkid Callum Hudson-Odoi. The attacking midfielder – who currently plays for Chelsea, where he came through the academy system – is reportedly wanted by German giants Bayern Munich, with an incredible £35m fee talked about.
If Hudson-Odoi makes the jump to Bayern he won’t be the first outstanding young talent from the Premier League to attempt to make it big in the Bundesliga. Here are 5 other wonderkids from English shores who did well in Germany’s top division.
#1 Jadon Sancho
A product of Manchester City’s academy, many observers expected Jadon Sancho to break through into Pep Guardiola’s first team after the idea was mooted by club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak in May 2017. Sancho had other ideas, though, and worried about his chances of gaining genuine playing time, he made a surprising move to Borussia Dortmund for a fee of around £8m in that summer’s transfer window.
As a sign of the club’s faith, Sancho was handed the #7 shirt vacated by Ousmane Dembele – who moved to Barcelona during the same transfer window – and was immediately included in the Bundesliga side’s first team squad. That October he made his debut as a substitute against Eintracht Frankfurt, and flashes of his potential were shown when he scored his first goal and made two assists in a game against Bayer Leverkusen in April 2018.
2018/19 has seen Sancho go from strength to strength at Dortmund; he’s established himself as a first team regular, usurping the spot of Christian Pulisic in the starting XI, and thus far he’s scored 6 goals and has 7 assists – all in just 17 league appearances.
He’s also scored his first Champions League goal and has broken into the England senior squad, appearing in their UEFA Nations League games against Croatia and starting their friendly against the USA – suggesting his decision to move to the Bundesliga was almost certainly the right one.