Jadon Sancho is a ‘future Ballon d’Or winner,’ says his former youth coach Louis Lancaster
- Louis Lancaster, who coached Manchester United target at Watford, compares Borussia Dortmund and England winger to Michael Jordan
- ‘Jadon wants to play football,’ he says, ‘It doesn’t matter if he’s at a council pitch in London or in front of 80,000 at Wembley’
“I think we are definitely looking at a future Ballon d’Or winner,” Louis Lancaster said of Jadon Sancho, “100 per cent.”
Many rate the England international winger highly after his stand-out season with Borussia Dortmund and he has been strongly linked with Manchester United, but Lancaster has done so ever since he first coached Sancho at Watford.
“I had Jadon when he was 13 and my first interaction with Jadon was in a summer programme,” Lancaster said. “With many players away on holiday those who stay merge into one group.
“We had 12s to 16s all in one session throughout the summer. I remember seeing Jadon and it was absolutely clear as day he was an incredible player. In my opinion when a player plays in their own age group they need to be outstanding. If they play an age group above they need to be good. If they play two age groups above all they need to do is survive. But he was still the best player.”
“He was a ‘time traveller’. What I mean by that is he’s so composed and his minute was everybody else’s second. He’s so composed, very calm on the ball, very leisured and still added so much value at 13 years of age.”
Lancaster, who coached Sancho for two years, remembers a player who was “100 per cent” driven, even at 13.
