Schalke speedster Rabbi Matondo has admitted that he could have joined Tottenham Hotspur or Liverpool before opting to make the switch to the Bundesliga, while speaking to Goal.
In January 2019, the Wales international decided to follow in the footsteps of another dazzling winger who honed his talents in the space-age Manchester City academy, by swapping England’s north west for the banks of the Ruhr.
18 months after Jadon Sancho was unveiled in the yellow and black of Borussia Dortmund, Matondo was putting pen to paper on an £11 million deal at Schalke.
The 19-year-old has not made the same impact as Sancho but, since David Wagner took over at the Veltins Arena last summer, he has at least opened his Bundesliga account, while leaving many a full-back dizzied and dazed with an explosive burst of acceleration.
Whether Matondo would be playing first-team football with such regularity had he decided to stay in England instead, however, is anyone’s guess.
“Liverpool and Tottenham were interested in me. (But) the way City persisted in trying to get me convinced me in the end,” says a forward with four caps for the Welsh national team.
“After my father and my agent had looked at the youth academy in Manchester, they were so enthusiastic that they told me I would be crazy if I didn’t take this opportunity.”
Matondo, who was actually born in Liverpool back in the year 2000, could perhaps be on his way back to familiar surroundings sooner rather than later.
Manchester United are desperate to make Sancho their new number seven but, according to the MEN, they could turn their attention to another former City starlet if their top target proves too expensive this summer.
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