Could Jadon Sancho Revive His Career at Nottingham Forest?

Once the most coveted English youngster in the world before Jude Bellingham arrived on the scene, Jadon Sancho was in scintillating form at Borussia Dortmund.

A big-money move to the Premier League, however, saw the talent's star quickly burn, and two subsequent loan moves have failed to reignite the form that once attracted some of the biggest clubs in world football.

Could Nottingham Forest be the club to get his career back on track?

Borussia Brilliance

Moving abroad at 17, Sancho was introduced to Dortmund's first-team squad after only three appearances in their youth setup.

Winning Bundesliga's Player of the Month in October 2018 after registering three goals and an assist in three games, the winger signed a new deal to keep him in Germany on a lucrative contract despite still being a teenager.

1️⃣ Goal
1️⃣ Outrageous touch
2️⃣ Assists

Jadon Sancho is going to be a serious problem!

18-years-old, the Englishman took the decision to move to Dortmund, he just had his best game for the club 💛🖤 pic.twitter.com/t9YqtynBqJ

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 22, 2018

Later that season, Sancho became the first player born in the 2000s to score a UEFA Champions League goal and was included in the Bundesliga Team of the Season at the end of the campaign.

Towards the close of 2019, Sancho came close to winning huge personal awards, coming second in both the Golden Boy award and Kopa Trophy to Joao Felix and Mathijs De Ligt respectively.

Across the three seasons between 2018-19 and 2020-21, only Robert Lewandowski (115) was involved in more goals in the Bundesliga than Jadon Sancho (78).

Sancho was the only player in the competition to have 30+ goals and 30+ assists (37 goals, 41 assists). pic.twitter.com/b3l6WIPCmS

— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) January 2, 2024

The winger's impressive displays in Germany earned him a place in the England team, making his debut in October 2018 and then scoring his first goals for his country with a brace against Kosovo in September 2019.

A place in Gareth Southgate's 26-man squad for Euro 2020 awaited him.

Where Did It All Go Wrong?

Cast your mind back to July 2021 - Manchester United had just announced a deal in principle with Borussia Dortmund for Sancho in a deal worth £73m, and an England side containing Sancho had beaten Denmark to set up a Wembley showdown with Italy in the Euros final.

For Sancho this should have been the highest point yet of his short but superb career, however things would start to go wrong very quickly indeed.

In the final, the winger was brought on in the 119th minute for the sole purpose of taking a penalty in the shootout - he missed his penalty as Italy triumphed 3-2 on spot-kicks - and a barrage of racist abuse condemned by relavant authorities and most of society came his way.

Gianluigi Donnarumma saves Jadon Sancho's penalty.

Italy: ✅❌✅✅

England: ✅ ✅ ❌❌

📲📺 Watch: https://t.co/1B3NJIoRkX#bbceuro2020 #Euro2020Final #ITAENG

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 11, 2021

After debuting in the Red Devils' 5-1 thumping of Leeds United, Sancho had to wait three months for his first goal at his new club which eventually came against Chelsea, as he dispossessed Jorginho on the halfway line and ran through on goal unopposed.

He ended the season with a total of six G/A in the Premier League, this was then followed up by nine the next campaign as his Dortmund displays looked to have deserted him.

After a very public spat with manager Erik Ten Hag, in which the player accused the manager of lying for his reasoning of leaving him out of the matchday squad, the club announced that Sancho would spend time training away from the team until the issue is resolved.

Ten Hag's response, to when he was asked about Jadon Sancho...

So Maguire, Antony and Evans were good enough, but Sancho was not? pic.twitter.com/oChyBmMIMI

— 👑155A (@RMFC_Issa) September 3, 2023

🚨 Jadon Sancho has now deleted his pinned tweet #MUFC pic.twitter.com/cCdEF6XkIC

— United Zone (@ManUnitedZone_) September 12, 2023

In January 2024, Borussia Dortmund swooped into the market to give their former star a lifeline by signing him on a six-month loan deal.

Whilst the club may have reached the Champions League final - albeit losing 2-0 to Real Madrid - and Sancho put in a classic performance against PSG in the semi-finals, the Germans decided against pursuing either a permanent deal or another loan deal, signalling that the winger still didn't live up to expectations.

Shortly after, Chelsea signed the player on a year-long loan with an obligation to buy fee of £25m, set to activate if the Blues finished higher than 14th in the league - which they did.

Despite an improved season for Sancho that included five goals and ten assists plus a UEFA Conference League winners' medal, in which he scored in the final, Chelsea broke their obligation agreement and instead paid a £5m penalty fee to not sign the player - the biggest fall from grace seen so far for the winger.

Nottingham Forest Interest

News surfacing today suggests that Forest are planning a move to sign Sancho permanently to replace Anthony Elanga, who departed for Newcastle United in a £55m move.

Sancho's style of play in recent years involves hugging the touchline to isolate his opposing fullback and then cutting back onto his stronger right foot to either shoot or pass to a teammate, whereas at Dortmund he had the confidence to beat his man and then whip a cross from his left boot into the area for a tall striker such as Erling Haaland to score.

Jadon Sancho has scored *and* assisted in every game since Erling Håland joined the club.

Håland has scored seven goals in 136 minutes.

What a duo this is going to be. pic.twitter.com/K6focFyGVT

— Squawka (@Squawka) February 2, 2020

At Forest, Chris Wood's physical capabilities mean he is the perfect candidate to get his head onto crosses and head home, which will be perfect should the move restore Sancho's confidence and get him delivering balls into the box for strikers once again.

It will be a tough order, given the Englishman didn't deliver a single accurate cross into the box for Chelsea.

Worst crossing accuracy in the Premier League this season (20+ crosses):

◉ 0.0% - Jadon Sancho
◎ 4.3% - Abdoulaye Doucouré
◎ 5.0% - Matt Doherty

🙃 pic.twitter.com/Jxr4K3ReFk

— WhoScored (@WhoScored) May 12, 2025

Another positive for Sancho in Nuno Espirito Santo's system is that the team defend in a 5-3-2 block, with one of the wingers joining Wood in a central area to make it harder for the opposition defenders to play splitting passes through the middle of the park.

Sancho doesn't have the work rate nor the fitness levels required for intense pressing of fullbacks, to then get back and support the defence, so for him to join Wood upfront eliminates his requirement to track back defensively.

Forest have an impressive record since Nuno joined the club at giving 'flops' from big-six clubs a renaissance, and the likes of Elanga, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Neco Williams and Ola Aina have all joined either directly from top sides or, in the case of Aina, from elsewhere following a struggle to meet potential initially shown at Chelsea and over several loans, and have transformed the club into European challengers.

The club spent a combined total of £35m for the four players (already recouped with the sale of Elanga) and the club could probably come close to tripling that sum if all of them were to be sold this summer.

Clearly, if Forest do decide to take a low-risk punt at Sancho (costing roughly £20m), they would be the best-suited club to boost his confidence, utilise his touchline ability to strike a partnership with Wood and help him return somewhat to form not seen since his Dortmund days.

Jadon Sancho vs PSG 2023-2024
MOTM⭐️
pic.twitter.com/R6TD9uHu1A

— jb (@simplyjb22) December 14, 2024

After all, performances like those against PSG and even at the London Stadium in a Chelsea shirt are within his reach, they just need to be found on a consistent basis.