Training camp to keep slumping Sancho and Bellingham in Germany through Christmas
Borussia Dortmund announced on Monday that neither Jadon Sancho nor Jude Bellingham will be permitted to travel back to England for Christmas vacation.
As all have learned in these unprecedented corona-times, the travel bans affected ordinary citizens do not necessarily apply to footballers. Despite the fact that a quick trip to the isle would technically be possible, struggling Dortmund doesn't wish to chance it amid an early scheduled training camp.
Interim head coach Edin Terzic confirmed the travel ban for two of his English players on Monday. Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham will remain in Nordrhein Westphalia until the training camp begins on December 29th.
Both youngsters have been struggling recently. Sancho has not yet scored a league goal through eleven rounds and Bellingham still has much work to do after turning in a nightmare performance against Stuttgart. The 20-year-old Sancho has produced better form both in the Pokal and the UEFA Champions League, but Terzic didn't deny that he's hit an observable mental block.
"He's desperate to win, desperate to make a statement," Terzic said of his attacker, "but what Jason lacks is the magic and confident ease that we're used to from him."
Sancho's recent difficulties serve as a microcosm of the issues facing the team as a whole. The young phenom seems bereft of ideas, infrequently uses his pace, and lacks confidence in both his first-touch and finishing. Bellingham has been similarly tentative on the ball, often freezing in possession before even trying to beat defenders and losing many midfield battles.
Having finally had the chance to oversee some training sessions with his new team, Terzic reported that he found himself in "good spirits" on Monday. The 38-year-old caretaker, acutely aware of the divisions with his locker room, reported that the sessions had been most useful in ridding some of the internal strife.
"We managed to get the guys to raise their hands instead of pointing fingers at each other," Terzic said.