Jamie Bynoe-Gittens: "I believe in BVB!"

It feels very much like winter, but Jamie Bynoe-Gittens first takes off his jacket. He gets a stern response from club photographer Alex Simoes: "Sorry, Jamie: wrong logo, wrong colour – we can't even start like that!" Fortunately, they manage to find a hoodie in the club colours in the BVB TV studio on the training ground in Brackel, and the photo shoot with Dortmund's young English attacker can get going.

Hi Jamie, how are you? And above all: how is your shoulder?
 "Much better. The joint is stable and is no longer causing me any problems. I have been struggling with this problem since I was 14 years old. Now everything is finally healed. I am fully fit and ready to dedicate myself fully to football. I can and want to learn a lot here."

Who do you learn the most from here?
 "Hmm, where do I start? We have an incredible treasure trove of talent on the training ground. Take a look at Gio Reyna, for example, an incredibly smart player. If you watch him in videos, you also need to pay attention to what he does before he gets the ball. Or look at Marco Reus – the way he moves with the ball, his great technique. I can learn an awful lot from people like that!"

That means that you also watch a lot of football in your spare time. So what do you watch? What leagues?
 "It's not so much about specific leagues or games. I deliberately study specific players and try to learn from their individual movements. At the moment, it's mainly Kylian Mbappé or Neymar, but I used to study young Cristiano Ronaldo and, before that, Arjen Robben. When I was 14 and went to the Manchester City Academy, I studied him or Riyad Mahrez almost every day. How he cuts inside from the wing and shoots, I still find it great today. I like to try it, but I'm still a long way from his quality. But anyway, I work on it every day. If you want to improve, you need to identify what others are doing better than you. For example, Arjen Robben."

Robben is now 39 years old and until recently was playing for his youth club FC Groningen. Marco Reus and Mats Hummels are both in their mid-30s and are likely to end their careers in the Black and Yellow of the club they love. What does your future planning look like?
 “Oh … I hope it will be a while before my career is coming to an end, seeing as I have only just turned 19. But it was not by chance that I extended my contract until 2028 at the beginning of October, when I will be 24. Let's see what's happens. I believe in this club, in this team, and in the fact that they have the potential for great success."

When young players like Jadon Sancho, Erling Haaland or Jude Bellingham played in Dortmund, it was always said they would take the next step here. Is BVB a club for you, where you could take the last, big step?
 "Why not? We all need to work together every day. As I said: I believe in BVB!"

And this club believes in you. When you signed your contract extension, Sebastian Kehl said that you are a promise for the future. So what can BVB expect from you? And what do you expect from BVB?
 "My promise should be to score goals, set up goals, and put a smile on the fans' faces. And what do I expect? I want to win titles! That is what football is all about – and nothing else. Cups, leagues, Europe – we always have to demand it of ourselves to be competing at the top."

Last May, you were so close to winning the league. How did you experience the traumatic last-day drama against Mainz?
 "That was a terrible day! I spent it in the stands because I had to miss the game due to a shoulder injury. But it was just as painful to see how the whole city, indeed the whole region, suffered. That hurt!“

All manner of generators, lamps and headlamps gradually make the studio warmer. Jamie gets some air into the hoodie and makes circles with his arms. Bynoe-Gittens smiles and signals: I’m ready! A few of his dark locks are dyed blonde – is there a more beautiful and striking form of identification with his club? BVB discovered him a few years ago in the Manchester City academy – the very same place where Jadon Sancho was trained. Because the two play in the same position on the wing, this has prompted all kinds of comparisons and raised expectations – sometimes a little too high. BVB carefully built him up and brought him through the U19s before taking him to the highest level. He made his Bundesliga debut at 17 and scored his first Bundesliga goal last season.

We have chosen a few very special moments from your time in Dortmund. Perhaps you can think about each of them individually and say what comes to mind.
 “Sounds good!“

Let's start with your first Bundesliga match against Bayern Munich in April 2022.
 "Of course, that was an amazing moment. Your first game is always something very special. I came on for Reinier and was up against Benjamin Pavard on the left wing. A pretty challenging task for a debut, right? The circumstances around my debut were not quite so great. We lost 3-1 and Bayern won the title."

Your debut in the starting line-up came one week later against VfL Bochum.
 "Three goals from Erling Haaland, but another defeat. Nevertheless, it was an unforgettable afternoon for me, the most moving moment since coming to Dortmund. The first time in front of the South Stand, in front of the Yellow Wall, it was incredibly loud, a fantastic atmosphere! And I got to play on the left with Jude Bellingham. You have to realise that I know Jude from our time in England. He was always one year above me in the youth national teams. When our paths first crossed, I was 13 and he was 14. Jude is a great footballer and a great man. His success at BVB didn't change him and neither did his transfer to Real Madrid nor turning into an absolute superstar worldwide. We still talk on the phone regularly now."

Your first Bundesliga goal was the equaliser in what would be a 3-1 win in Freiburg in the second game of last season. With your left foot.
 "Hmm, the goalkeeper didn't exactly cover himself in glory, didn't he? But whatever – a goal is a goal, it was not exactly meaningless either and made me very happy. My phone was flooded with messages of congratulations. When you're an attacker and you've scored your first goal in the Bundesliga, in a way it means you've finally arrived there."

In January 2023, you scored your first home goal against Augsburg, right in front of the South Stand. This time it was with your right foot and it was much more spectacular than the goal in Freiburg. It was a typical Robben move, only from the other wing.
 "And yet my left is my stronger foot, at least when it comes to shooting. No matter, the feeling after that was indescribable! It was my first game back after my shoulder surgery. I had to sit on the sidelines for four months back then. I was so happy that I almost cried on the pitch."

Another special moment: your first Champions League match in the most beautiful stadium in the world against Chelsea.
 "Oh yes, against an English side as well – and Chelsea of all teams. I grew up in Reading, close to London, and as a young boy I also had the opportunity to go to Chelsea's academy. I chose Reading because it was just around the corner and also suited my game. In Reading, I was able to develop freely, dribble and have fun – I enjoyed that freedom. At Chelsea, I would have had to adapt my game and suppress it. The decision to opt for Reading was the right one for my development. But of course, I followed Chelsea closely, and went to games at their stadium often. That's why this game was a very memorable moment for me."

The photo shoot has now been going on for twenty minutes. In the background, club photographer Alex's Leica is clicking constantly. At the front, Jamie follows his instructions with the patience of a saint – just as he puts up with the errant tackles of defenders in his day job in the Bundesliga. To make it a little more bearable for Jamie, the BVB photographer puts on some music. Jamie chooses a song by British rappers Dave and Central Cee. He goes by the nickname "Sprinter", which is very fitting given the strengths of Dortmund's dribbling artist. The official DFB statistics show that Bayern's Alphonso Davies is the fastest player in the league so far this season with a speed of 35.97 kilometres per hour. Last season, when Jamie Bynoe-Gittens came on late in the 3-0 cup victory against 1860 Munich, he clocked over 36 kilometres per hour. Just a few final questions before the patient model can go back to work on the training ground...

It was because of people like you that the Germans invented the term "Straßenfußballer" (street footballer). Are you familiar with that term at all?
 "Of course! A Straßenfußballer is a boy who thinks about nothing but going outside and having a kickabout until it gets dark – or even longer. In my hometown of Reading, we used to put two bags on the floor and use them as posts, and we played like that every day. For us, there were no computers, no internet and all these things. For us, there was only football. So it was street football, if you like."

Was there also such a thing as street cricket? Apparently you were a very good bowler and had to choose which sport to pursue.
 "Ha, funny question! No, street cricket wouldn't be possible – you need a proper pitch. I played in my school for a while, which was fun. My father was a good cricketer, he played for his county in Middlesex. But he never pushed me in that direction. He wanted me to be happy – and I was and I am happy on the football pitch."

When did you first realise that you were better than the others?
 "When I went to the Manchester City academy. It was a very big step for me and my family. It was three and a half hours by train from Reading, so I stayed with a host family there. Not so easy for a 14-year-old. But it was a huge opportunity for me. City have regularly produced great players, such as Jadon Sancho, Phil Foden and Felix Nmecha, who has been playing at BVB since the start of this season. Felix is four years older, but our paths crossed often enough on the pitches at the academy."

It's one thing to leave your family at 13 and move to another city. But it must have been much more of an upheaval to move to a foreign country a few weeks after your 16th birthday? How did you experience your move from England to Germany?
 "It was a strange, but also very formative experience. In the autumn of 2020, almost all public life ground to a halt because of Covid, so I was able to find out little to nothing about my new surroundings. The academy is great, but after a while it is not very exciting to always hang out in the same rooms. Netflix, Playstation, training – that was it. If you like, I had very good conditions to really concentrate on my work. And in that sense it was a good time."

What is the difference between the 16-year-old who came to Dortmund in the middle of the pandemic, and the young professional who is increasingly in the starting line-up?
 "That's a very good question, because you don't pay so much attention to how you yourself are changing. I think the Jamie in autumn 2023 has more patience and perseverance, he is mentally stronger, understands the game better than the Jamie from the summer of 2020. And he's much more physically robust and athletic. I am 1.75 metres tall and now weigh 77 kilos – four kilos more than when I arrived in Dortmund. That helps me a lot in this league. Football in Germany is much more physical than the football I was used to from England."

What are the differences between these two football cultures?
 "I have to caveat that by saying that I can only judge academy football in England and not the Premier League – that makes a big difference. At Man City, tactically, we played at a high level. We had a lot of possession and won almost every game. The jump to the Bundesliga was so big because professional football involves a lot more running. That was something I hadn't experienced in academy football."

What does that mean for your game? What are you working on?
 "I want to be a decisive factor in games. Someone who helps the team win games. That is more important to me than goals or assists. To do that, it is important to make the right decisions at the right time. When should I shoot, when should I pass, when should I dribble? These are the questions you keep asking yourself in every game, and you have to answer them in an insanely short space of time."

How do you go about doing that?
 "As I said at the beginning of our conversation, by watching videos over and over again. How do I do that the way others do it? Otto Addo helps me with that. He picks out the videos for me, discusses the clips with me and shows me where and when I can do something better. I can't watch things like that often enough. Otto actually just told me that I should pick my head up again immediately before I make a decision and get one last picture of the situation. I'm also working on that."

Author: Sven Goldmann
 Photos: Alexandre Simoes

This article comes from the BORUSSIA members' magazine. BVB members can receive BORUSSIA free of charge every month. Click here to register to become a member.