Cheslea are reportedly in the mix for young Borussia Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens who has told his club that he wants to leave the club. Gittens is having a stellar season for Dortmund with 12 goals and 3 assists with 4 of those strikes coming in the Champions League against elite competition.
Reports from Sky Sports suggest that Chelsea are leading the race for his signature partially due to his representatives having a connection with the Blues. They also report that he could be sold for around £70 million rather than the £100 million that has been bandied about in recent months.
Gittens shares representation with current Chelsea winger Jadon Sancho who started his academy career with Manchester City but became a star with Dortmund from 2018 to 2021. He even returned to Dortmund on loan in the 2023-24 season after falling out with manager Erik Ten Hag and Manchester United so there is still a connection with the German club.
With the shared representation and the affection between Sancho and Dortmund, we wonder if Chelsea could use Sancho to sweeten the deal for Gittens. Chelsea is reportedly going to pay £25 million for Sancho and could turn around and use him as part of a player swap for Gittens to help convince Dortmund to pull the trigger.
Dortmund, despite their stature and accomplishments, have never spent more than £35 million on a player and that approach doesn’t seem like it will change any time soon. They always prioritize youth players and getting the most out of them before selling them on for massive profits to fund the rest of the club. Recent examples of that are the aforementioned Sancho, Ousmane Dembele, Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, and many more.
This player swap plus cash would allow Dortmund to get fair value for a young player they developed while also bringing back a player that the fans loved and one that they helped turn into a star. Sancho has had his best seasons with Dortmund where he reached double digit goals three years in a row before his big money move to Manchester United. Sometimes players just feel more comfortable at certain clubs and certain leagues and Sancho played his best ball in that black and yellow kit.
He has become an important player for Enzo Maresca and is one of the first names on the team sheet but a prospect like Gittens is hard to ignore. Gittens has everything you look for in a modern winger and is just coming into his own as a player.
Chelsea could help unlock his ability and he could bring more goalscoring to a position that the Blues desperately need more from. It would be sad to see Sancho go but if it is in exchange for Gittens then it is worth the hard goodbyes.