Jadon Sancho Biography

Jadon Malik Sancho was born on 25 March 2000 in Camberwell, Greater London, UK. Both his father, Sean Sancho, and his mother, whose name is not known, are from Trinidad and Tobago. The couple has three children; Jadon and two daughters.

Initially the family lived in Peckham, where Sean Sancho earned his living as a security guard. Later, they moved to Kennington, Southeast London. Here, Jadon was enrolled at Crampton Primary school and developed a passion for football, quickly attracting the attention of his head teacher.

At that time, Kennington was infested with petty crime and many young boys were drawn to it. However, Jadon remained immersed in the game, playing football after school either on the streets or in the caged pitches near his home on the Guinness Trust Buildings estate.

Sometime now, he became friends with Reiss Nelson and Ian Carlo Poveda. One day, while the boys were playing football, Sayce Holmes-Lewis, a well-known coach, came across the trio and watched them making their rivals look stupid with their skills and almost telepathic communication.

Sayce Holmes Lewis soon contacted some football scout and with his help Jadon joined Watford FC at the age of seven. There, he was put under the guidance of Coach Louis Lancaster and quickly impressed him with his single-mindedness.

The Watford Football Club Training Ground was 21.6 miles away from his home in Kennington. Although long and tiring, Jadon Sancho happily undertook the journey for the next four years. Finally at the age of eleven, he moved to an accommodation provided by Watford and entered its partner school, Harefield Academy.

During this period, he lived in a boarding house. However, his father continued to visit him regularly, mentoring and encouraging, not only him, but the entire team. Sayce Holmes-Lewis also continued to keep an eye on him.

At Watford, he soon began to flourish, winning an Under-11 event, attracting the attention of big clubs, including Chelsea and Arsenal. However, his father rejected all the offers because Watford provided good training and also a chance to continue his education.

Also from this time, he started watching videos of football stars like Neymar and Ronaldinho, learning from them. They also helped him to become a good ball entertainer, which was one of the reasons, which attracted the scouts.

In March 2015, not yet fifteen, Jadon Sancho moved to Manchester City FC for an initial fee of £66,000 under the Elite Player Performance Plan.

Here too, he remained in good form, scoring a brace on his debut match for Manchester City’s Under-18s, netting twice for England Under-17 in two respective youth competitions. It was soon announced that he would be fast-tracked to the senior team.

In May 2017, he debuted on his international career with the England under-17 team, which reached the final of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship. For his performances he was named player of the tournament.

In August 2017, Manchester City was scheduled to go on a US tour and his name was included in it. A contract paper, offering him £30,000-a-week, was created for the event, but Sancho refused to sign it because there was no mention that he would get any playing time.

The refusal surprised everybody, including his coach, Pep Guardiola, leading to his name being dropped. When asked about the reason behind such move, he answered that he would like to go where he could play.

Jadon Sancho left Manchester City in July 2017 and in August he was signed with Borussia Dortmund, a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, for £8 million. On 21 October, he played his first match for the club, substituting six minutes left of the match against Eintracht Frankfurt.

In September 2017, he was named in England's squad for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Although Dortmund was not very keen to release him, an agreement was eventually reached and he was allowed to play for the national team under certain conditions.

On 8 October 2017, he scored two goals against Chile in England U17's first match; but was withdrawn by his club on 16 October. On 2 November 2017, he was again called to the England U19 squad. He scored the last goal in England's 4–1 win over Hungary on 21 March 2018.

Concurrently, while playing for the national team, he continued to play for his club. He made his first league appearance on 14 January 2018, and scored his first professional goal on 21 April in a 4–0 victory against Bayer Leverkusen. In October, he was called up to the England senior squad for the first time.

Courting with unprecedented successes throughout the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 seasons, he scored his first career hat-trick in a 6–1 away win over SC Paderborn on 31 May 2020. On 13 May 2021, he scored a brace in a 4–1 win over RB Leipzig in the DFB-Pokal Final.

In April 2019, Jadon Sancho had signed a new contact with Borussia Dortmund, which would keep him with the club till 2022.  But sometime in 2021, Manchester United began to negotiate with Dortmund, eventually reaching an agreement over Sancho's transfer in July 2021.

Possibly on 23 July 2021, Sancho signed a five-year contract with Manchester United with an option of a further year. Given Jersey no 25, he made his debut for the club on 14 August 2021.

On 23 November 2021, he scored his first goal for the club, against Villarreal, and helped his team earning a spot in the knockout stage of the Champions League. On 28 November 2021, he scored his first Premier League goal against Chelsea. In all, he appeared in 29 Premier League matches in the 2021-2022 season and scored three goals.

One day when Jadon was thirteen years old, his coach, Louis Lancaster, asked him what he wanted to do. The boy looked into his eyes, and said, “I want to represent England and make my family proud of me and I want to play for one of Europe’s top clubs.”