German football expert Matt Ford explains how Jamie Gittens developed into a star at Borussia Dortmund after playing youth football for Reading, Manchester City and his current senior club, Chelsea.
"I came to Germany to play first-team football," said Jamie Gittens, in an interview with Borussia Dortmund's official YouTube channel in summer 2023.
Three years earlier, the Reading-born winger had set out on an increasingly well-trodden path for young English talents, following in the footsteps of Jadon Sancho in swapping Manchester City's academy for western Germany in the hope of immediate top-flight experience.
Now, with 107 first-team appearances, 17 goals and 14 assists to his name across the Bundesliga and the UEFA Champions League, the 20-year-old is back in England after signing for Chelsea.
"Jamie Gittens' career exemplifies the development of top talents at BVB," said Dortmund chief executive Lars Ricken, who brought Gittens to the club in his former role as head of the academy.
"We discovered him very early, signed him almost at no cost, continuously developed him in our youth academy, and provided him with playing time at the highest professional level.
"Jamie has repaid that trust with dedication, performance and goals."
Gittens' 'signature move'
Indeed, Gittens returns to Stamford Bridge – where he also spent one season in Chelsea's youth academy before moving to Man City – on the back of his best campaign so far.
Playing predominantly on the left of a front three, Gittens scored 12 goals and set up five more across 48 matches in all competitions in 2024/25 as Dortmund eventually finished fourth in the Bundesliga.
Perhaps most pleasingly of all, however, having previously suffered two debilitating shoulder injuries, Gittens also made the most appearances of any Dortmund player.
Many of Gittens' goals followed a similar pattern: a neat first touch and feint to immediately gain a yard of space, and then the deployment of his lightning pace to accelerate away from defenders, followed by a clinical finish.
On the opening day of last season against Eintracht Frankfurt, he turned former Leeds United defender Robin Koch inside out before sprinting away to score past goalkeeper Kevin Trapp.
But the best of the bunch came in the Bundesliga's biggest fixture, as Dortmund hosted Bayern Munich.
Receiving a pass on the left wing, Gittens wrong-footed Austrian international Konrad Laimer and sprinted away towards goal, where he fired home past former Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
After Gittens pulled off similar strikes against Club Bruggemand Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League, the German media were beginning to refer to his "signature move" and even compare him with the legendary Chelsea, Bayern and Netherlands winger Arjen Robben.
'If you don't shoot, you don't score!'
"Jamie has incredible abilities to accelerate the pace of the game and find solutions in tight spaces," former Dortmund head coach Edin Terzic told me, after Gittens' first Bundesliga goal back in August 2022.
Gittens, who had turned 18 just a week earlier, came on as a substitute with his team trailing 1-0 away at Freiburg; he equalised with a speculative long-range effort that was fumbled into the net by goalkeeper Mark Flekken, who went on to join Brentford.
"If you don't shoot, you don't score!" Gittens told me at full-time, bouncing down the tunnel alongside a jubilant Jude Bellingham, after Dortmund had gone on to win 3-1.
"In fairness, I thought there was a chance [of it going in] because I hit it with a lot of power, and the next thing you know, it was in and I was just running around in circles, celebrating. I didn't know where to go! OK, it was a bit of a fluke, but a goal's a goal."
Terzic said: "That's exactly what we needed. I didn't want him to just go with the flow of the game; I wanted him to make an active difference."
Super-sub Gittens
Adept at carrying the ball at pace, Gittens attempted 8.1 dribbles per 90 minutes on average last season, with 3.9 of them completed successfully – more than any other Bundesliga player.
In fact, across Europe’s top five leagues, only Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku (6.4) and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal (5.1) averaged more completed dribbles per 90.
Such was Gittens' regular impact off the bench that he quickly began to develop a reputation as a super-sub, with tired defenders unable to cope with his pace and penetration.
In his first full season, all three of his goals came as a substitute. Last season, five of his 12 Bundesliga goals were also scored after being brought on.
"No player wants to be a super-sub," admitted Nuri Sahin, who succeeded Terzic as Dortmund's head coach. "But Jamie won't always be a substitute. He's simply too good for that."
Time for the next step at Stamford Bridge
Unfortunately, Gittens' form, like Dortmund's performances as a whole, dropped off in the second half of last season.
The nadir came during a 2-0 defeat away at soon-to-be-relegated local rivals Bochum when Gittens, having been substituted in the 58th minute, became embroiled in a heated exchange of words with some of the travelling Dortmund supporters behind the goal.
An article in local newspaper Der Westen stated: "BVB would have suffered even more setbacks this season if not for Jamie Gittens, who rescued his team with many moments of brilliance but has also hit a wall in recent weeks.
"Gittens has been overplayed. The sheer number of games has brought him to his physical limit. He needs a break."
The player himself appeared to agree, reportedly telling team-mates as early as April he wanted to leave Dortmund this summer and return to England.
"Jamie is an excellent player who has brought us great joy," said Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl. "It was his wish to take the next step in his career at Chelsea, and we wish him all the very best and much success."
Gittens moved to Germany for first-team football and he got what he wanted.
Now it's time for the next chapter.