The new Sancho? Dortmund make bid for Man City wonderkid
FT Desk
- 26 Aug 2022 07:00 BST
- 3 min read
Borussia Dortmund are looking to repeat their success with Jadon Sancho as they swoop for new Manchester City wonderkid Cole Palmer.
Palmer, 20, is highly rated at the Etihad Stadium and forms part of Pep Guardiola's first-team squad.
But competition for places is fierce among the Premier League's defending champions, meaning that minutes have proved hard to come by for the promising playmaker.
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He has received just two minutes off the bench in the club's opening three Premier League games and, with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden to name just a few ahead of him in the City pecking order is unlikely to see regular action any time soon.
Dortmund are looking to take advantage of his need for first-team football with an audacious loan bid for the youngster and want to complete a deal prior to the close of the transfer window on August 31.
Guardiola would be reluctant to lose Palmer, but a temporary switch away at a club of Dortmund's standing could well be to the player's benefit in the long run after injury interrupted a promising introduction to the City team last season.
Dortmund's track record with young stars
The Bundesliga side, of course, have a sterling reputation when it comes to developing young talent, particularly with players who have come from the English game.
Jadon Sancho left City's youth set-up as a teenager frustrated with the lack of senior chances and immediately made an impact at Signal Iduna Park, where he became a firm favourite prior to his lucrative transfer to Manchester United last summer.
More recently Dortmund beat out several Premier League contenders to the signature of Jude Bellingham and have been rewarded handsomely as the ex-Birmingham wonderkid has flourished in the Bundesliga.
Erling Haaland, Giovanni Reyna and Ousmane Dembele are fellow success stories from the Dortmund system, while 2022 has also seen the introduction of yet another former City promise: 18-year-old Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, who scored his first senior goal for BVB against Freiburg earlier in August.
