Rabbi Matondo says Jadon Sancho's success in Germany inspired him to leave Manchester City last season.
Matondo, 19, never featured for City's first team, but was considered one of the best talents at the City Football Academy. He joined Bundesliga side Schalke for £8million in January, following in the footsteps of former teammate Sancho, who left for Borussia Dortmund 16 months earlier for £7m.
Sancho has gone on to enjoy success at Dortmund, becoming a regular for club and country - something that simply would not have been possible at City given the riches of talents on the wing at the Etihad.
While Matondo is yet to set the Bundesliga alight as Sancho has done, he did score his first goal for Schalke last month, and is looking to build on his two starts for the club after settling in to his new surroundings.
And speaking ahead of Wales' crucial Euro 2020 qualifiers this week, Matondo says seeing Sancho get regular first team playing time inspired him to leave City for his new opportunity.
"It wasn’t that I couldn’t see a pathway," Matondo explained.
"I believe in myself. Obviously at Manchester City it is tough – all the players are top players.
“But it was more that I had the opportunity to go and play first-team football and at the time I didn’t have that at Manchester City, so I preferred to play first-team football so I took the opportunity."
“If I can do as well as [Sancho] has done so far then I will be really happy. He is doing well and hopefully he continues to do so," added the winger.
“He is a great player. I have always known that since being at Manchester City with him how good he can be and how good he will be. Hopefully he can help me as well.
“I have always watched Jadon, even when we were young. He didn’t make me move to Germany but of course he is doing so well there and when it came around I thought 'why not?'”
Discussing his aims for this season, Matondo added that he is looking to feature more regularly for Schalke, who are now managed by former Huddersfield manager David Wagner.
He continued: "I have still got a lot to improve on and learn but I am happy with how things are going.
"Hopefully there will be many more minutes for Schalke this season and hopefully that will encourage me to play more for Wales."
