After getting name-checked by Lee Carsley earlier this month, Jamie Gittens pushed himself closer to an England call-up at the Santiago Bernabéu when he made history scoring against Real Madrid.
The 20-year-old has gone under the radar in the last four years at Borussia Dortmund since his move from Manchester City’s Academy but took centre stage against the Champions League holders with his goal on Tuesday night against the European champions.
When he slid in to convert a cross from another Premier League graduate in Donyell Malen, Gittens became the youngest English goalscorer against Real at the age of 20 years old and 75 days. The previous record was held by Alan Smith, who was 54 days older when he scored at the Bernabéu in 2001.
Smith’s goal, 23 years ago, was scored in front of Sven-Goran Eriksson and earned him a first England cap later that season and it seems that Gittens is on a similar path to the seniors having already played for the Under-21s.
Interim manager Carsley has earmarked him among the clutch of young English players who have shown their maturity playing for foreign clubs, choosing to kick-start their careers away from the Premier League.
Angel Gomes has already been given his first cap during Carsley’s brief spell as manager, while Noni Madueke started at PSV before moving to Chelsea and Sam Iling-Junior went to Juventus and is now at Bologna on loan.
“Different language, different food, different way of playing, different mentality within the changing room. To survive that and then thrive in it is testament to Angel. The same with Noni,” said Carsley.
“We’ve got four or five players that have been abroad – I’m thinking of Sam Iling-Junior, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens – there’s a lot of character, which accelerates them and their development.”
Carsley used his full name, but Gittens dropped the “Bynoe” from his double-barrelled name at the start of the season.
“Both are the names of my father, but he said that he thinks it’s better if I’m only called Gittens because it’s shorter,” he said. “Most people know him as Gittens, so I’ll only play with Gittens too in the future.”
Gittens has trodden the same path as Jadon Sancho by going to Dortmund to get into senior football, both of them moving to Westfalenstadion from City’s Academy. The move for Gittens came in 2020 but was somewhat low key, with injury delaying his impact in German football as well as the impact of Covid on the sport.
He made his debut in 2022 and last season made 25 appearances in the Bundesliga. While all the focus was on Sancho versus Jude Bellingham in last season’s Champions League final, Gittens was also an Englishman who made it to Wembley having played his way into the first-team plans.
He puts his progress down to being injury-free, with his progress seeing him on the radar of Premier League clubs looking at possible attacking solutions.
“To be available and not to be injured for the majority of the matches. That’s a big thing because when you’re available, you can always play. I learned a lot throughout the last season, namely to be patient, to learn from others when I play and to wait my turn.
“I go to the gym as often as possible in order to have fewer injuries. I would like to score more goals and get more goals and assists than last season. And hopefully we will win a title as a team.”
