South Londoner Jadon Sancho could make full England debut – at the age of just 18
Jadon Sancho could make his senior England bow this week – capping an amazing rise by the South Londoner.
The 18-year-old was born at King’s College Hospital in Camberwell and lived in Peckham before moving to Kennington.
Sancho is one of English football’s outstanding prospects but is plying his trade for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
He collected his sixth assist of the season as Dortmund – top of the table – beat Augsburg 4-3 on Saturday.
Sancho joined Watford at the age of seven and was 14 when he transferred to Manchester City in March 2015.
He won the FIFA U17 World Cup in 2017 and was named UEFA European U17 Championship Golden Player in the same year as well as making the latter competition’s Team of the Tournament.
Sancho moved to Dortmund in August 2017 for a reported fee of £8million.
Saturday was his first start for BVB after six substitute appearances this season.
England head coach Gareth Southgate said: “It’s been a brave decision by him to play in the Bundesliga, but he is playing in front of big support every week. He’s dealing with that and excelling.
“It’s a big call, but it aligns to what we’ve done in the last 18 months. We have some injuries in midfield, so there’s an opportunity there.
“We are always conscious of the balance on how quickly we put those players in, but we think they are performing well with their clubs, they’re confident players and we get an understanding of how they and we work.”
England have UEFA Nations League games against in Croatia on Friday and then travel to Spain on Monday.