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Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, 17, is a former Man City starlet who snubbed Chelsea and is now tipped to be next star at Dortmund
JUST days before the two Manchester giants lock horns in the Premier League, it was somewhat inevitable a former Man City player would be the difference in a youth game at Old Trafford.
On Tuesday, English winger Jamie Bynoe-Gittens danced along the right-wing and terrorised Man Utd's U19s with a scintillating display that brought back memories of flying wide men of the past - Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs, and even Andrei Kanchelskis.
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The teenager helped himself to a brace, and netted the decisive penalty in a shootout to knock the Red Devils out of the UEFA Youth League with his side Borussia Dortmund.
Bynoe-Gittens left the Manchester City Academy for the German club in 2020, a move that's now common practice for our youngsters looking to follow Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham's lead in their development.
Now, the talented wonderkid is closing in on a first team spot at Signal Iduna Park after impressing coaches with his maturity and progress.
Reading boy
Born in London, Bynoe-Gittens was snapped up by Reading when he was nine.
Chelsea and Arsenal soon showed an interest , but he rejected both in favour of a move to Manchester City's U15s.
With quick feet and pace to burn, he impressed enough to earn a call-up to England's U15 and U16 teams.
Thriving in a team alongside Liam Delap, James McAtee, Samuel Edozie and Finley Burns - all of who have appeared for Pep Guardiola's side - he was rated as one of City's most promising prospects.
But after seeing his idol Sancho thrive in Germany, as well as sharing the same advisor, he didn't need much convincing that a transfer to Borussia Dortmund would be a boon to his growth.
After securing the deal, the club's excited sporting director Michael Zorc lauded the swoop.
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"He is a highly talented offensive player, but he should develop patiently with us in the junior division," Zorc said.
"We don't want expectations to be too high right from the start."
Eagerly anticipated
That expectation soon accelerated when Bynoe-Gittens was spied training with Marco Rose's first team squad in the preseason of 2021.
Rose liked what he saw and selected the boy wonder for a friendly against LaLiga giants Athletic Bilbao.
However, after being introduced in the second half Bynoe-Gittens suffered an ankle injury that sidelined him for four months.
It was a cruel setback before a potential breakout season.
All in all, with a combination of both the coronavirus outbreak and injury, he only managed to play two competitive games during the 2020-21 season.
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Bounced back
Since returning to the fold last November, Bynoe-Gittens has showed incredible resilience.
Across competitions including the UEFA Youth League, U19 Bundesliga-West, U19 Ligapokal West, and the DFB-Pokal der Junioren he has scored nine goals in nine games.
"He definitely has the talent to be part of the big stage at some point," Dortmund U19s coach Mike Tullberg told and SPOX.
"We can't, and don't, want to slow him down.
"He is very smart, mature and hard working. The most important thing now is for him to get in shape first. In the games before Christmas, he had to leave the pitch after 55 minutes with cramp.
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"He hasn't played properly for almost two years, and is not yet in the necessary physical condition to be able to train with the first team. The fact that he is still an Under-19s player is due to his injuries.
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"It was agreed between the youth department and the first team that we would first develop him in the Under-19s. That will certainly take some time.
"If we all think he's ready and his performances justify it - which I'm not worried about at all - then it's clear that he'll end up in the first team sooner or later."
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