Bundesliga
Pulisic an inspiration for Sancho at Dortmund
Jadon Sancho has described Christian Pulisic as a role model at Borussia Dortmund, with the England winger and his US counterpart having enjoyed similarly impressive trajectories at the Signal Iduna Park.
It is Sancho who has dominated the headlines this season, registering eight goals and 11 assists in all competitions already, but the 18-year-old did not have to look far for inspiration.
“The club had shown with a player like Christian Pulisic that they were going in the right way, playing youngsters and giving them a chance,” Sancho explained to ESPN. “He came from the same situation as me, leaving his family behind. He was so young, and he was brave enough.”
Watch: What makes Sancho so special?
Where Jacob Bruun Larsen and Raphael Guerriero have been sharing left-wing duties this term, Sancho and Pulisic have been in direct competition on the opposite flank. Sancho’s form has seen him edge that particular battle thus far, but the recent England international is just glad to call Pulisic a teammate.
“America is a lot further away than England and he's taken a bigger step than I have done,” said Sancho. “How he’s handled that, what he does on the pitch, his mentality [towards] football, it’s just crazy. The passion he has. I admire him.”
Pulisic, still 20, will fall just shy of the 100-game mark for Dortmund in the Bundesliga before completing his move to Chelsea next summer, and Sancho will be glad for the USMNT star’s company for the next six months.
“He’s an outstanding player, I really do look up to him,” he concluded. “Him going away from home shows that you have to do things to get out of your comfort zone, sometimes. I feel it’s worked for him and it’s working for me now, because we’re both staying focussed and keep training hard."
Sancho and Pulisic could line up alongside each other against Nuremberg on Monday night, with captain Marco Reus not expected back from his adductor injury until the end of the month.