The Wonderkid Files: Jamie Bynoe-Gittens – £26m Arsenal target with the world at his feet
scouting report on Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, the young Arsenal target who becomes the latest Englishman to make waves at Borussia Dortmund.
Arsenal FC
The Wonderkid Files: Jamie Bynoe-Gittens – £26m Arsenal target with the world at his feet
A scouting report on Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, the young Arsenal target who becomes the latest Englishman to make waves at Borussia Dortmund.
Matthew Gregory
By Matteo Gregorio
Published 21 September 2023, 18:00 BST
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First Jadon Sancho, then Jude Bellingham – and now Jamie Bynoe-Gittens could become, and ultimately become, the latest young Englishman to move to Borussia Dortmund in search of fortune. Arsenal are reportedly interested in a £26m move for the 19-year-old, and it’s easy enough to see why by watching the tape.
Born in London, Bynoe-Gittens attended the academies of Chelsea and Reading before moving to Manchester City in 2018. Two years later, he followed Sancho’s path to Dortmund, breaking into the first team in 2022 despite a serious ligament injury that sidelined him for several months shortly after arriving in Germany, scoring his first goal in the win 3-1 against Freiburg last August. Since then he hasn’t looked back
Although his career path has drawn inevitable and somewhat lazy comparisons with Sancho and Bellingham, only the former holds up to any meaningful analysis. Bynoe-Gittens is a right winger who plays mostly on the left and cuts inside, but is so good with his presumably weaker left foot that he can play almost alternately on both flanks.
The first thing you really notice about him is his cunning and the speed of his feet. His quick runs between defenders are often accompanied by lightning-fast transitions and changes of direction that make mistakes or simply leave defenders standing. Very few players can move their feet at the same pace as Bynoe-Gittens, and it’s a thrilling experience to watch.
He also has a ferocious shot and, unlike many young wingers of similar ability, has a good record of making the right decisions when given some time and space with the ball, although he is quick to make mistakes when given given the ball. taken by surprise. In any case, this is not a particularly frequent event
Another way in which he differs from the model of the modern young striker is that his starting positions are much wider, giving him more space to run towards defenders rather than position himself for quick passes along the channels. He’s also a high-volume shooter, looking for openings to let his right fly once he gets past a defender, a bit like Arjen Robben – but the way he uses his precise control and quick feet to keep players guessing defenders and earn free money-kicks resembles Jack Grealish more than anything else
If this makes Bynoe-Gittens seem a little selfish, he’s probably being unfair. He’s not reluctant to pass the ball, it’s just not one of his strengths, and his passing accuracy, especially over distance, leaves a lot to be desired. . He shows his lack of ego and is willing to do a better job for the team in tracking and pressing. The only other major weakness he possesses is his physique. Bynoe-Gittens is under 5-foot-7 and probably won’t weigh much more than a wet towel. He can get knocked down by bigger defenders, which is probably a big part of how he fouls and why he can get nervous and make mistakes when he doesn’t have full control of the ball. However, he would not be the first small forward to have a career…
Bynoe-Gitten’s minutes largely come from the bench and he is still behind Karim Adeyimi in Dortmund’s pecking order, but like so many talented young players the German club are absorbing, that doesn’t appear to be hindering his development. He is also doing plenty of work at international youth level, winning the European U19 Championship in 2022 and playing his first international match for the England U21s in the qualifier against Luxembourg in September. He has played for England since the under-15s and has no shortage of admirers at St George’s Park. Arsenal’s interest in a transfer next summer is easy to explain if you look at his speed, guile, skill and intelligent use of the ball, but he is not yet ready to be a regular starter at a top club. club, and it could still be a good season of solid minutes or a well-placed loan move away from gaining that extra experience he needs. Even a little time in the weight room wouldn’t kill him. But if he continues his steady upward trajectory and gets the right coaching and mentorship – be it at Arsenal or Signal Iduna Park – it looks like he could be a really great prospect. If I came back in two or three years he could easily be in the England team.
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