IN a flash, Jamie Gittens has become Borussia Dortmund’s heir-apparent to Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho.
The 20-year-old became the youngest English player to score against Real Madrid in the Champions League, when he put Dortmund two goals ahead at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night.
Gittens beat former Leeds forward Alan Smith by about two months with his clever back-post run and simple finish to establish a stunning two-goal lead over the holders after half an hour.
But despite going on to lose 5-2 in Madrid, courtesy of a Vinicius Junior second half hat-trick, Gittens has cemented his name in the Champions League history books.
In fact, only Harry Kane (four) has more European goals than Gittens, who has three, this season.
The England wonderkid, who previously went by the surname Bynoe-Gittens before changing it on his Barbadian dad’s advice, is in the form of his life.
He has scored six goals and registered three assists in 11 games in all competitions this season.
After making history on Tuesday, he told TNT Sports: “To lose how we did should not have happened. But this stadium is so magical. They have great players to make impacts and they did it again tonight.”
Gittens scored Dortmund’s first two goals in their last Champions League outing as they beat Club Brugge 3-0, after a stoppage-time penalty from Serhou Guirassy.
The Reading-born winger has already starred in a European final, coming on from the bench at Wembley when Madrid won their 15th title in June.
FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS
Gittens went the Sancho route of joining Dortmund straight from Manchester City’s academy four years ago.
He has since made 51 Bundesliga appearances for Dortmund since joining the first team from the Under-19 side in July 2022.
Bellingham named his fellow Englishman as his successor to the Golden Boy award when the Madrid superstar won it in December.
Gittens signed up with Reading at Under-9 level and, after rejecting an invitation to switch to Chelsea, eventually moved north to join City‘s Under-15s.
His train to City would take three hours so he would stay with a host family up there and joined a new school in Manchester. The distance was tough on both him and his family.
He was highly-rated at City but in 2020 moved to Dortmund, believing it would provide him a quicker route to the first team.
England fans are already getting excited at the prospect of Dortmund developing another Three Lions talent.
Gittens could be set to earn himself an England call-up as new boss Thomas Tuchel will be fully aware of his talent, having faced him as Bayern Munich manager in March.
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens makes it 2️⃣
A quick fire double for Dortmund as Bynoe-Gittens becomes the youngest English player to score against Madrid 🔥
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/rJ1XnMq1Ba
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 22, 2024
Gittens played the final half-an-hour of Dortmund’s 2-0 win over Bayern in March.
He has made 10 appearances for England’s Under-21s and is set to play a prominent role under Lee Carsley, who will return to the fold after a three-camp stint with the first-team.
The winger was part of England’s triumphant Under-19 Euro campaign two years ago, starting the 3-1 win over Israel in the final alongside recent senior call-up Jarell Quansah.
Martyn Beney coached Gittens as a seven-year-old at local club Caversham Trents, who also produced female star Fran Kirby.
The 49-year-old told SunSport earlier this year: “A month into his training with us, we were thinking ‘Christ, this boy has got some serious ability’. His dribbling was incredible, even as a six-year-old.”
His German is developing nicely too, after three and a half years of three lessons a week, and is even conducting parts of some interviews in it.
The talented wideman’s new lease of life has coincided with using a shorter version of his surname on the back of his shirt.
In August 2024, Dortmund announced that he would play under the surname “Gittens”, rather than “Bynoe-Gittens” as he had previously used.
Gittens told Dortmund’s official website: “Both are my father’s names, but he said he thinks it’s better if I’m just called Gittens because it’s shorter.
“Most people know him as Gittens, so in the future, I’ll only wear Gittens.”
The “shorter the better” he told German outlet Bild.
