Jamie Bynoe-Gittens: Borussia Dortmund’s Next English Diamond by Saul Morris

This report is going to be analysing Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Bynoe-Gittens. This will be focusing on his strengths and weaknesses as well as assessing both his current ability and potential ability.

Biography:

Name: Jamie Bynoe-Gittens

Nationality: English/Barbados

Date of Birth: August 8 th , 2004

Height: 1.77m (5”10)

Strong Foot: Right

Current Club: Borussia Dortmund

Position: Left Winger

Value: €14.00m

At just 18 years of age, Bynoe-Gittens has already made a promising start to his career having secured a move from Manchester City to Borussia Dortmund, a club that has been excellent at giving youth players more chances in recent years, at just 16 years of age. Following in the footsteps of England international Jadon Sancho, another winger who made the same move at a young age, Bynoe-Gittens will be hoping to replicate the impact Sancho had at Dortmund. This report will look into the strengths and weaknesses of Bynoe-Gittens game, his current ability and the potential level that he could reach.

Career Summary:

Bynoe-Gittens is an attacking and direct winger who likes to cut in on to his right foot from the left wing but can be deployed on the right wing if needed. Bynoe-Gittens began his career in the youth academy of Reading before securing a move to Manchester City. Following this, at 16, Borussia Dortmund signed him from Manchester City and his career has been on an upward trajectory ever since. Bynoe Gittens impressed in the youth levels for Dortmund, he scored 6 goals in 5 games in the UEFA Youth League and scored 3 goals and got 3 assists in 6 games in the U19 Bundesliga West, this led him to earning a first team debut in the 21/22 season as Bynoe-Gittens made 4 appearances in the Bundesliga. He then took a step further this season with 15 appearances which included him getting 3 goals and an assist, as well as 3 games in the DFB-Pokal and 2 in the Champions league. Bynoe-Gittens has also impressed on the international stage having won the U19 Euros with England.

Style of Play:

Bynoe-Gittens style of play is not necessarily that of most modern day wingers, although he has a lot of pace he doesn’t always use this as his primary method to beat a man. His style of play is similar to that of England and Manchester City winger, Jack Grealish. This is because Bynoe-Gittens likes to use quick feet, small touches and bags of trickery to beat his man before finding the line breaking pass rather than using sheer pace to race away from the defender. His mindset very much seems to be pass first and keeping the teams momentum and possession flowing rather than trying to take charge and run through players alone. His positioning however is much less of Jack Grealish, who likes to stay wide and hug the touchline, and is more so that of the Egypt and Liverpool forward, Mohamed Salah. Over the last few years when Liverpool had Salah on the right and Sadio Mane on the left, they were more left and right forwards than left and right wingers as they often drifted into the middle to either receive and play off the striker or midfield, or to run through on goal as there run inside created space for themselves. This is the same positioning and runs Bynoe-Gittens likes to make as he runs in off the left onto his stronger right foot to create space for himself to drive towards the goal. This is especially useful as Dortmund have attacking fullbacks so the wingers running inside helps give them space when surging forward.

Bynoe-Gittens is more suited to playing on the left and cutting in on his right foot but as he has a very strong left foot he is able to go down the line with just as much effect which makes him much harder to mark. When deployed on the right he is also effective and looks to get crosses off much more often which is especially helpful as Dortmund have a tall and very good aerial striker in Sebastien Haller.

His main strengths are his weak foot, quick feet, decision making and movement. His weak foot being very strong makes him much harder to mark as defenders won’t necessarily know which way he is looking to go, this gives him the edge with one on ones and allows him to have more success against his fullbacks. His quick feet help him get out of tight spaces and when back into the corner by a good opposition press. He is able to use both feet with very small touches and body feints excellently to misdirect the defender and get away. His decision making is a huge strength, this is something most young players struggle with and learn as they gain more experience but Bynoe-Gittens already seems to excel in making the correct choice more often than not. He keeps it simple when required and does not try to force his way through if there are better options available. He is a selfless player and knows how to keep possession and stay patient whilst waiting for the opening. His movement not only helps him but his whole team. He stays wide to stretch the defence and then will burst through with a run inside when the time is right to create space for himself but also his full back who likes to push up to attack.

His main weaknesses are his weight of pass, his physicality and his tendency to panic. Quite often when there is a relatively easy pass around 5 – 15 yards he will be too cautious with it and leave it a bit short making it easier to be intercepted and making his teammate work extra hard to retain the ball. These are unforced errors that should be eradicated when more confidence grows in his game. His physicality makes him not as effective on the defensive side as he could be, he tracks back very well to support his fullback but gets outmuscled and boxed out of the majority of 50/50 challenges but his work rate and desire to get back shows this is something he is working on. His tendency to panic is only in defensive situations. When attacking his decision making is excellent but in the defensive third he quite often resorts to putting his foot through the ball and launching it in any direction to get it away rather than looking to retain possession. Sometimes this is definitely necessarily as even the best passing teams cannot always play out but Bynoe-Gittens needs to look up and scan the area before the ball arrives to him so he can see when to clear it, although at least this does avoid immediate defensive errors so it is not the worst weakness to have.

Potential:

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens potential is extremely high. Borussia Dortmund are giving him plenty of first team experience with this set to increase further in the 23/24 season. Another 2/3 years with this Dortmund side will definitely be excellent for his development and could see him becoming Dortmund’s next biggest sale following Jadon Sancho, Erling Haaland and potentially Jude Bellingham. A first team England call up is still quite far away with this current England team having some exceptional wingers such as Bukayo Saka and Jack Grealish, but should he continue his development then by the time he is established within this Dortmund team there is no reason why he cannot establish himself in the England team as well.