Although Jadon Sancho played a key role in helping Chelsea win the Conference League title and achieve top five status in the Premier League this season with timely goals, assists, and take-ons as a starter or rotational player, it made sense for the Blues to ultimately balk on the 25 million pound fee to sign the former Champions League finalist from Manchester United permanently, instead paying a five million pound penalty to NOT ink him.
It sounds bizarre to praise Chelsea for agreeing to pay a penalty, but it’s better to lose five million pounds than lose 25 million pounds on a player you don’t believe in as a regular starter.
And while Sancho did start 19 Premier League games for Chelsea in 2024/25, that’s only about half the total season. So Sancho wasn’t able to distinguish himself as a key player for the Blues, and even though he may be worth 25 million pounds in a vacuum, to Chelsea, he’s not the solution on the wings. Signing him would merely take a spot away from potentially finding a player who is that guy for them as an organization.
Chelsea have found a better winger to sign than Jadon Sancho
It appears Chelsea have already identified that guy in an England international currently starting on the wings for Borussia Dortmund, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens. Although Bynoe-Gittens’s performances trailed as the 2024/25 season ended, he had a strong campaign for BVB and showed a whole lot of promise in the first half of the season, getting linked to all the big clubs in European football – Chelsea included.
Now, Sky Sports Germany’s Florian Plettenberg and Patrick Berger report that Chelsea are interested in signing the 20-year-old and are currently in talks with both Bynoe-Gittens and Dortmund over a move. Their interest in Bynoe-Gittens has accelerated after the decision not to keep Sancho beyond the 2024/25 season.
Bynoe-Gittens has his flaws, but he’s such an exciting and raw talent that he is worth signing, especially with his fee expected to be just 30 million pounds, which is significantly (essentially half) less than what people expected the U21 talent to cost a few months ago.
Chelsea could be getting a massive bargain here. Bynoe-Gittens is young, productive, insanely athletic, barely scratching the surface, a high character guy, English, and now quite cheap.
Capable of starting virtually anywhere in the attack, Bynoe-Gittens looks like an ideal player for Chelsea to take a punt on as a left winger. He has sensational one-on-one ability and goal-scoring upside if he puts it all together, and while he isn’t a slam dunk, 30 million pounds for Bynoe-Gittens is a much better and more bullish gamble than 25 million pounds on Sancho, who doesn’t have a profile that suits the Premier League as well as JBG.
Joe Soriano covers Tottenham for FanSided’s Hotspur HQ and writes about Real Madrid for The Real Champs. He has extensive experience covering world football since 2014. Joe is an editor for The Trivela Effect, where he covers the biggest clubs in European football. He has watched professional sports regularly since 2002 and can be found playing the same sports he covers with his friends.