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One of the currently ongoing transfer sagas of the current window surrounds the future of England wonderkid Callum Hudson-Odoi. The attacking midfielder – who currently plays for Chelsea, where he came through the academy system – is reportedly wanted by German giants Bayern Munich, with an incredible £35m fee talked about.
If Hudson-Odoi makes the jump to Bayern he won’t be the first outstanding young talent from the Premier League to attempt to make it big in the Bundesliga. Here are 5 other wonderkids from English shores who did well in Germany’s top division.
#1 Jadon Sancho
A product of Manchester City’s academy, many observers expected Jadon Sancho to break through into Pep Guardiola’s first team after the idea was mooted by club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak in May 2017. Sancho had other ideas, though, and worried about his chances of gaining genuine playing time, he made a surprising move to Borussia Dortmund for a fee of around £8m in that summer’s transfer window.
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As a sign of the club’s faith, Sancho was handed the #7 shirt vacated by Ousmane Dembele – who moved to Barcelona during the same transfer window – and was immediately included in the Bundesliga side’s first team squad. That October he made his debut as a substitute against Eintracht Frankfurt, and flashes of his potential were shown when he scored his first goal and made two assists in a game against Bayer Leverkusen in April 2018.
2018/19 has seen Sancho go from strength to strength at Dortmund; he’s established himself as a first team regular, usurping the spot of Christian Pulisic in the starting XI, and thus far he’s scored 6 goals and has 7 assists – all in just 17 league appearances.
He’s also scored his first Champions League goal and has broken into the England senior squad, appearing in their UEFA Nations League games against Croatia and starting their friendly against the USA – suggesting his decision to move to the Bundesliga was almost certainly the right one.
#2 Reiss Nelson
Able to play as a winger, forward or as an attacking midfielder, the versatile Reiss Nelson began to garner some hype by breaking into Arsenal’s first team squad from their academy in 2017/18. He made 3 appearances in the Premier League and a further 8 in the Europa League, but in order to gain more experience and playing time, he made the move to the Bundesliga at the start of 2018/19 with a season-long loan to Hoffenheim.
Since then, Nelson has proven to be a huge hit in Germany despite largely appearing at Hoffenheim as a substitute. The England U21 international scored on his debut for his new club in their match against Fortuna Dusseldorf, and remarkably, it only took him 14 minutes to find the back of the net after being introduced from the bench.
Nelson has since gone on to score a further 5 goals for the Bundesliga club, and picked up the league’s Rookie of the Month award in October 2018 for his performances. While he hasn’t scored since November now, his record of 6 goals in just 492 minutes remains impressive, and he’s still extremely popular with the Hoffenheim fans. A return to Arsenal at the end of the season seems likely, but he’s still clearly made an impact during his time in Germany.
#3 Andreas Christensen
Unlike Sancho, Nelson and Hudson-Odoi, Andreas Christensen obviously isn’t an up-and-coming English talent – he’s a Danish international. He’s definitely a product of the Premier League though, having joined Chelsea’s academy at the age of 15 from Brondby, and while he was finally able to break into the Blues’ first team in 2017/18, he cut his teeth in the Bundesliga.
Christensen moved to Germany on a two-year loan deal with Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer of 2015, and the central defender was an almost immediate hit. He ended up appearing in 31 of Monchengladbach’s 34 league games, and even chipped in with 3 goals. His performances were so good that he was voted the team’s Player of the Season.
Monchengladbach attempted to make his transfer a permanent one in the summer of 2016, but Chelsea steadfastly refused to sell the Dane. He did remain with the Bundesliga club for the 2016/17 season though and proved to be a success again, scoring 4 goals and appearing in 43 games in all competitions, firmly establishing himself as one of Monchengladbach’s key players.
While Christensen returned to Chelsea and had a semi-successful 2017/18, he’s slipped out of the Blues’ first XI in 2018/19 thus far – meaning a return to the Bundesliga might not be out of the realm of possibility in the future.
#4 Ademola Lookman
One of the stars of England’s U20 World Cup victory in the summer of 2017 – he scored 2 goals in their second-round win over Costa Rica and a third in the semi-final against Italy – Everton youngster Ademola Lookman made a short – but impactful – move to the Bundesliga towards the end of the 2017/18 season.
Looking for more playing time, Lookman was sent on loan in January 2018 to RB Leipzig, despite then-Everton boss Sam Allardyce preferring a move to a Championship club. Lookman proved him wrong though, as he had an immediate impact in Germany, scoring the winning goal in his first game against Borussia Monchengladbach after coming on as a substitute.
Lookman went on to score a further 4 goals and also chipped in with 3 assists, all in just 7 starts and 4 appearances as a substitute in the Bundesliga. In just 576 minutes, the England youngster was involved in 8 goals – an average of a goal every 72 minutes.
Leipzig attempted to sign the youngster on a permanent transfer in the summer of 2018 but Everton refused to sell – a somewhat surprising move given he’s only started 2 Premier League games thus far this season. Perhaps a move back to the Bundesliga could be in the future?
#5 Reece Oxford
In comparison to the likes of Sancho, Christensen and Nelson, it’s difficult to argue that young West Ham defender Reece Oxford made a huge impact in Germany during his time with Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach. However, he clearly did enough there to raise his profile enough to the point that the club still attempted to sign him permanently.
Oxford – who made his West Ham debut at the age of just 16 in a Europa League tie – was named as one of the best youth prospects in English football ahead of the 2016/17 season, but it wasn’t until 2017/18 that he made the move to Monchengladbach on a season-long loan.
The defender broke into the first team at Monchengladbach in October 2017, and was beginning to establish himself as a first team regular when West Ham surprisingly cut the loan deal short and brought him back that December. By the end of the January transfer window though, the loan was back on in a strange move that was apparently forced through by the player himself.
Oxford ended his time at the Bundesliga side last summer with 8 appearances in all competitions, and despite Monchengladbach’s attempts to sign him permanently in the summer, is now back at West Ham. Current reports suggest a move back to the Bundesliga could be on the cards during the current transfer window though, so we shall see.
