Dortmund youth chief Lars Ricken issues transfer warning: 'Would we take another Sancho from England? Of course'

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Big talent: Jadon Sancho has thrived since swapping Manchester City for Borussia Dortmund in 2017
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Borussia Dortmund may not have been able to inflict Champions League misery on Tottenham at Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday night, but they may still be able to give English clubs a painful summer in pursuit of their brightest talents, Lars Ricken has warned.

Ricken, Dortmund through and through since emerging from the club’s academy in 1993, going on to score in their 1997 Champions League final victory, now heads up one of the finest production lines of young talent in Europe, but says Dortmund are always on the lookout for the best and brightest prospects not getting a shot at first-team football abroad, especially in the Premier League.

The arrival of Jadon Sancho from Manchester City has sparked a wave of envious glances from fellow English youngsters.

He has made mistakes this season, but Dortmund fans have taken to him like one of their own. The 18-year-old has thrived in the Bundesliga, and Ricken says Dortmund, and the rest of the German division, are ready and waiting to snap up the next Sancho.

“Would we take another Sancho from England? Of course,” Ricken told Standard Sport.

“Our scouting department, not only in Dortmund but other clubs as well, although especially in Dortmund, they are so good and professional that we know each talented player all over Europe, maybe in the world.

"We know them and we have the financial strength to buy the players as well.

“Each club wants to find their own Sancho or Pulisic. I think our supporters are very proud of players like Jadon Sancho, because he is a very young player. Each club in the world is jealous of us because we have Sancho."

The likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi, who has played just 13 Premier League minutes at Chelsea since the closure of the January window, when he was denied a move to Bayern Munich, continue to sit on the bench in England’s top-flight, where vast sums of money have created a secondary market where canny German clubs can prosper.

In Pictures | Dortmund vs Tottenham | 05/03/19

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“There is too much money in the market! That is the problem,” Ricken added. “There are so many talented players we see in the youth national teams, the U17/19 teams we play against in Youth League, there we can see that there are a lot of prospects, very talented players.

“But unfortunately for them there is so much money in the market, so it is not easy for them to perform in the major league.

“The German teams have to find other strategies and, the young talented players are much cheaper than finished stars, we can develop them.

"You can’t forget the business side, you can make a lot of money with them sometimes, maybe when they go back to England. It is a very interesting market for German teams.”

Lars Ricken says Dortmund are ready to sign more talented players not getting first-team football 
Bongarts/Getty Images

At Premier League clubs there is often understandable frustration when stars are brought in from the continent or further afield and block the pathway of an academy talent.

At Dortmund though, given their superb track record with 92 former academy players currently playing in the top two tiers of German football and across Europe’s top five divisions, fans will take to an overseas player should they show the same desire as one of their own.

“Of course, maybe there is more identification with a player who came from our youth department but, on the other hand, it is the attitude of the player,” Ricken said.

“Do you believe that the player loves to play for Borussia Dortmund and he loves to be here? Or is it a player who will play here for one or two years and then go to the next club? That is very important.”

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