The weathered sign by Jadon Sancho‘s old family flat on the Guinness Trust Buildings estate on Kennington Park Road is unequivocal. ‘No Ball Games,’ it orders in big white lettering on a green background. But then boys will be boys.
Two are circumventing those rules on the morning of Mail Sport‘s visit by playing passies with an empty bottle of Coca Cola instead, their mums nattering nearby in the very concrete courtyard where Sancho dreamt of representing Chelsea, the club he supported in his youth.
We are here, south of the River Thames, for a wander through the childhood of the 24-year-old who considers this loan a homecoming. Not because he previously played for Chelsea. He never has. Saturday night will be his debut if thrown in against Bournemouth.
But because it brought him back to London, as close to his old SE11 postcode he has been since leaving to pursue his professional career. Born in Camberwell. Brought up in Kennington. This is home; a return to capital roots for the…