Asking for a big transfer: Jude Bellingham

Still only eighteen years old, footballer Jude Bellingham has captivated the whole of Europe with his football maturity, of course leading the most famous addresses that can be found on the old continent. Leading clubs from Spain, Italy and his native England are very actively interested in his services and they certainly have reason to be.

Beginnings in England

Jude Victor William Bellingham is currently causing a stir at Signal Iduna Park, the shrine of Borussia Dortmund. But before moving to one of Germany’s top clubs, he learned the art of football in his native Stourbridge, before moving to the much better known Birmingham at the age of eight.

The academy there soon recognised the ease with which he could work the round nonsense and so young Jude began to play with the older players. At fourteen he was playing for the U18s and at fifteen he even made his debut for the U23s, in which he managed to score his first goal for the junior team and incidentally decide a game against Nottingham Forest.

Fourfourtwo magazine ranked him among the 50 greatest young talents in the football world in the spring of 2019.

At sixteen a key player

He has been involved in training with the first team since the summer and, after promising performances in pre-season games and, not too surprisingly, in the first round of the EFL Cup at Portsmouth, he became the youngest player in the club’s history at the age of 16 years and 38 days.

He burst into the league season in such a way that in less than a month he became a steady member of the team, often in the starting line-up. Although he was initially used on the left wing, coach Pep Clotet began using him at centre midfield after he had matured among the adults.

By January 2020, a good number of British big clubs were already pushing hard for him, and on the last day of the winter transfer window Birmingham City rejected a £20m offer from Manchester United. At the end of his first coronavirus-affected season, he had played 44 games and won the awards for best newcomer and best young footballer of the season.

Move to BVB

That Bellingham would not last another season in the charming West Midlands county had been obvious for some time and the only question was where the promising midfielder would transfer to. Manchester United and Westphalia’s Borussia Dortmund came closest to securing his signature, and both Jude and his family were very impressed.

In particular, the space the yellow and black were willing to give to young players, as with Bellingham’s compatriot Jadon Sancho, played an important role in the decision-making process.

So, at the age of seventeen, the Birmingham academy graduate moved to the west of Germany, with a sum of around €23 million + bonuses heading in the opposite direction. In Dortmund, as with his previous employer, he was given the number 22 with which he scored in the very first game of the season in the DFB-Pokal and for the first time in his new position and became, again not too surprisingly, the club’s youngest ever goalscorer in this competition.

In a BVB jersey, he showed right from the edge that he is an exceptionally mature footballer for his age and won over the coaching staff time and time again, especially with his versatility, which makes him very useful in any midfield position. A fast, physically strong, positionally sound midfielder with a large radius of action, this is how one could describe the 17-year-old newcomer.

Among the best talents in the world

He finished his first season in Germany with 46 games to his credit, scoring four goals and adding the same number of assists. He was one of the favourites to win the Kopa Trophy for the best footballer under 21, awarded at the Ballon d’Or gala, but Barcelona midfielder Pedri took home the award for young players.

He has played 24 games in all competitions so far this season, during which he has managed to amass 3 goals and 9 assists. The hottest suitors include Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Dortmund’s rivals Bayern Munich, but Bellingham’s return to the British Isles seems the most likely.

Source: Transfermakrt