In his inner circle they simply call it 'The Jamie Gittens Goal'. The one they've seen so many times before. Where the 20-year-old Englishman feints to the left before driving to the right and curling the ball through a crowded box and into the back of the net.
When he did it again for Borussia Dortmund against Borussia Mönchengladbach last Saturday, Dortmund's social media account posted the “I am inevitable” quote from supervillain Thanos in the Avengers films, with the caption: “Jamie Gittens when he stands on his right foot intervenes'.
For those who haven't seen it yet: think of Arjen Robben cutting in and scoring – just from the other flank.
And if you think the hype is a bit exaggerated, it's worth looking at the nine goals that flying left winger Gittens has scored for Dortmund this season, along with his four assists.
Going into Wednesday's Champions League match against Barcelona, the boy from Reading scored an average of a goal or assist every 97 minutes, including goals against Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
He might be the best English player you've never heard of, and this is his breakthrough season. In the aftermath of his solo goal against Bayern in Der Klassiker, where he finished past Manuel Neuer, German tabloid Bild dubbed him Goldjunge (golden boy).
Jude Bellingham, his former teammate at Dortmund, says he is one of the best young players in the world. Gittens has followed the same path as Bellingham and Jaden Sancho, with whom he shares an agent, leaving home comforts in England for Germany as talented teenagers and making a name for themselves in the Bundesliga.
“I'm going to try to make a name for myself,” he said in 2020, when he was at Manchester City and would soon leave for Germany. 'When Sancho was at Man City he was in the Under 18s and he scored every game, so in a way I want to be like him.' A few months later, like Sancho, he was on his way from Manchester to Dortmund, where he paid just 90,000 euros in compensation.
Four years later, Dortmund valued Gittens at €100 million and last year he extended his contract until 2028.
The son of an accomplished cricketer with Bajan heritage, Gittens also played cricket in his youth, but football eventually took precedence.
Initially he went by his longer surname Bynoe-Gittens, but at the start of this season he took off the first part because his father Mark, who supplies both sides of the double barrel, suggested the move.
Martyn Beney, who coached Gittens at Caversham Trents, his first youth club from the age of five to seven, remembers a “shy and timid little boy with almost nothing on him” but that “if you gave him a football, his personality changed'.
“You see him now playing in front of about 80,000 people and it's strangely not that different from how he played at that age, with that burst of speed and the ability to score a goal anywhere,” Beney told Mail Sport.
The driving instructor tells a story about when Caversham needed a goalkeeper and with no one volunteering, Gittens took responsibility.
“He went in goal because he wanted to continue the game,” Beney added. “We were down 3-1 at half-time, so we asked one of the other kids to go into the net so we could get him back out. The match finished 4-3 and of course he scored a hat trick. We knew he was head and shoulders above his age group.”
At the age of seven, he joined his hometown club Reading and remained there, with short spells at Chelsea, until City came along in 2018.
That City produced players like Sancho and Brahim Diaz, now of Real Madrid, was part of the appeal at the time.
But it only lasted two years and in Manchester there is acceptance and a slight shame that Gittens may have been someone they let go too soon.
He was in the same age group as Rico Lewis and the City academy staff rated him highly on the ball, but his lack of physicality and role off the ball were a real concern.
After two years there it was unclear whether City would offer a future. That's where Dortmund came into the picture, sensing an opportunity and finding little competition for the then 16-year-old.
For Gittens, who saw Sancho as a role model, he was inspired to make a name for himself abroad.
Dortmund director Lars Ricken trusted the opinions of his scouting experts and like Sancho, Gittens left City's youth academy for Dortmund before appearing in the first team. Even now, Dortmund's scouts are not particularly welcome in Manchester.
His arrival at Dortmund started poorly, coinciding with the start of the pandemic and then a torn ligament that kept him out for a few months.
Gittens initially lived in the youth homes of the Dortmund academy. Learning to say 'pass it' in German was one of the first things he did and now he speaks the language fluently. During Dortmund's pre-season tour to Asia this year, he did an interview speaking only in German and still uses a private teacher.
Four years after his accession, the word they use for him in the local language is Unterschiedsspieler (difference maker).
“City are probably thinking: damn, we should have kept this boy,” said a source close to Gittens.
Without his goals, Dortmund would be 12th this season, and he has four goals in his last four.
Asked by Mail Sport on Tuesday about the difference at Gittens this season, his head coach and former Liverpool midfielder Nuri Sahin said: 'I have known that Jamie who cuts inside and shoots for years. But now he's making big strides off the ball, defending and pressing and these things are helping his game.
'Normally, young players never believe it when you say this, but at the moment they feel that if you counter well and if you press high and win the ball, the path to the goal is shorter.
“I always told him that once you get a taste of scoring, you'll never stop.”
The hope is that this is not just a purple patch and that Gittens can remain fully fit, with injuries and operations on both shoulders having slowed him down in recent years. He has cut sugar from his diet and the summer of 2024 was his first pre-season without injury.
Saturday's match against Mönchengladbach was only the third time he has played the full 90 minutes in the Bundesliga, but he has not been dropped this season.
“When he is in the penalty area it is almost impossible to defend against him,” said Sebastian Kehl, Dortmund's former captain and now sporting director.
Sahin calls him 'brutally good at one-on-one' and it is no surprise that scouts from Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea have all been recent visitors to Dortmund matches.
There is a genuine belief in these parts that Gittens, like Sancho, Bellingham, Ousmane Dembele, Christian Pulisic and Erling Haaland, will be a huge financial success for Dortmund if he moves on. At the age of 21, all five sold for more than £50 million.
And for England? Mail Sport understands that the current plan for Gittens is to travel to Slovakia with the Under 21 squad for the defense of their European Championship title in the summer – although that depends on whether Dortmund need him for the expanded Club World Cup in the United States.
But he is also on the radar of Thomas Tuchel's first team. There is no doubt about his abilities, but his experience is limited and simply put, those before him are really good.
England already have an abundance of quality on the wings, so it's up to Gittens to force his way in and he's ticking all the boxes now.
Although it is worth mentioning Tuchel's comments from last season. 'The Premier League is more robust and demands even more from the players than the Bundesliga. That's certainly my impression. Mentally, physically and psychologically it is at the highest level,” said the new England manager and former Dortmund. Sancho has struggled to recreate his Bundesliga form since making the switch and other examples such as Timo Werner and Christopher Nkunku act as warning signs.
But if Gittens continues the way he is going, especially in the Champions League, Tuchel will find it impossible to ignore him. His stock only increases.
Times are changing and fast, for the boy who told Bild newspaper last year that he wants to win the Ballon d'Or.
We asked in an internal interview last weekend whether this was the most confident Jamie Gittens we had seen yet.
'It could be. That could very well be the case,” Gittens said with a cheeky grin.
Exciting words, but not for Barcelona on Wednesday evening, who will have watched many clips of 'The Jamie Gittens Goal' in preparation – but at the moment every match Gittens plays seems to reveal something new.
“I'm so happy for him,” Sahin said yesterday, “and for you in English football, because someone is coming.”
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