Tottenham vs Borussia Dortmund news: Mauricio Pochettino not surprised by form of Jadon Sancho

Tottenham and Arsenal had been initially interested in Sancho, with Spurs enquiring about him during negotiations with City for the transfer of Kyle Walker

Mauricio Pochettino is not surprised by the form of English teenager Jadon Sancho for Borussia Dortmund, 18 months on from Tottenham’s attempt to sign him from Manchester City.

Spurs play Dortmund in the Champions League last-16 at Wembley this evening with Sancho, now 18 years old, likely to be Dortmund’s biggest threat. Sancho signed for Dortmund in August 2017 after turning down a lucrative professional contract at City, and after City had blocked him going to another Premier League side.

Tottenham and Arsenal had been initially interested in Sancho, with Spurs enquiring about him during negotiations with City for the transfer of Kyle Walker. Sancho himself was interested in moving to a team that had a good record in bringing through young players. But City always insisted he would not go to another Premier League rival, which is why he ended up in Germany.

Pochettino did not want to comment specifically on “rumours” at his pre-match press conference in Enfield this afternoon. But he did say that he was not surprised by how good Sancho has been, showing the form that has taken Dortmund to the top of the Bundesliga. Because Spurs had always known just how talented “massive prospect” Sancho is.

“I am not too much impressed [surprised] about him,” Pochettino said.

“We knew very well that he was capable to do what he is doing now with game time. We have seen the quality that he was showing in Manchester City or in his national team. I think we were talking in the last few years that he was a massive prospect to be a very good player.

“Of course he is showing now in Germany that he can cope with the pressure to play in the Bundesliga or in the Champions League. And not surprise me. His talent is there and he's a very talented player.”

This time last year Spurs were knocked out of the Champions League by Juventus, and Pochettino told his team that this they have to find the “extra charge” in their own motivation for the game. “The key now is you need to find your energy in your motivation, in your own motivation,” he said. “Of course that extra charge is there. And I think we’re going to arrive in a very good condition.”

Even though some of the Spurs players have looked tired, Pochettino was confident having spoken with his players that they would now find that extra edge.

“I've described before, or in the last few days, that [the schedule] was a little bit unfair. But that is not an excuse to arrive tomorrow in our best condition and fight to try to win. I think you can feel in the eyes of the players the energy. We were talking in the meeting before and it’s completely different.”