Manchester City’s winter spending spree is underway.
On Monday, the Sky Blues unveiled Abdukodir Khusanov, joining from Lens for a reported fee of £34m.
This week, the Citizens are also expected to complete the signings of Vitor Reis from Palmeiras and Omar Marmoush of Eintracht Frankfurt, but Pep Guardiola is not done yet, now eyeing up a move for one of the most exciting English talents currently playing abroad.
Man City chasing a new winger
According to a report from Spain, Manchester City, alongside Chelsea and Bayern Munich, are set to ‘compete’ for the signing of Borussia Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens.
Fabrizio Romano adds that Liverpool are also “monitoring the situation”, with Florian Plettenberg and Patrick Berger of Sky Sports Deutschland believing the 20-year-old is valued at around €100m (£85m).
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The Englishman spent time in both Chelsea and Manchester City’s academy set-ups, but ditched the Sky Blues for Borussia Dortmund at the age of 16, taking a similar path to that established by Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho.
Since making his senior debut against Wolfsburg in April 2022, Gittens has scored 16 goals and provided 14 assists in just 84 outings for die Schwarzgelben, registering a goal involvement every 132 minutes on average.
So far this season, despite the fact Nuri Şahin’s side are struggling in general, the youngster has gone to another level, scoring seven times in the Bundesliga and four times in the Champions League, most notably on target against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu in October, as well as in November’s Klassiker draw at Westfalenstadion.
You may know this player as Jamie Bynoe-Gittens however, at the start of this season, he decided to shorten his name following a discussion with his father, the pair agreeing it would be ‘easier to pronounce’.
What Jamie Gittens would bring to Manchester City
Regardless of what is on the back of his shirt, he’s certainly a player to watch, with data analyst Ben Mattinson on X particularly enthused by his “electric pace”, while Sebastian Stafford-Bloor of the Athletic believes his “two-footed finishing and blazing speed” will be impossible for new England manager Thomas Tuchel to ignore.
The 20-year-old is certainly attracting attention from clubs in England, so could we soon see him gracing the Premier League?
Guardiola has plenty of wingers at his disposal already, namely Jack Grealish, Bernardo Silva, Savinho and Jérémy Doku, but keeps on chopping and changing in search of a winning formula.
Will Unwin of the Guardian has praised Doku’s “maverick tendencies”, saying they provide Man City with something different, which is in stark contrast to Grealish, who Richard Jolly of the Independent believes is no longer “exciting”, with Guardiola’s over-coaching responsible.
Thus, stylistically, the Man City player Gittens is most similar to is certainly Doku, so let’s see how the duo compare.
Appearances
60
85
Minutes
3,162
4,758
Goals
0.37
0.15
Assists
0.23
0.42
Shots
2.99
2.61
Goals – xG
+6.6
+2.4
Attempted take-ons
7.41
7.15
Take on success %
45%
51.6%
Progressive carries
5.44
8.07
Touches
41
44
As the table, using data since the start of last season outlines, Gittens and Doku are very similar players.
Gittens ranks higher for both goals and shots per 90, while Doku has the slight edge when it comes to assists, progressive carries and take-on success %.
Nevertheless, across Europe’s top five leagues this season, Gittens ranks second for attempted take-ons (118), behind only Lamine Yamal, who’s not bad, while the young Englishman also sits eighth for goals – xG, with an impressive tally of +4.6, bettered only by one Bundesliga player, that being Marmoush, who’s already on his way to Man City.
What is clear is that Gittens is a future superstar, so if the Sky Blues, or anyone else for that matter, get the chance to secure his services, they should certainly take it.
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