Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham has been marked out as a top talent for several years, despite still only being 18 years old.
The England international has impressed in both the Bundesliga and Champions League in recent months and Liverpool are amongst a host of clubs rumoured to be interested in the former Birmingham City youngster.
Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl went on the record this week to address the rumours surrounding Liverpool and Bellingham. Kehl and Jurgen Klopp will hopefully have a good working relationship, given that he was Dortmund captain under the current Reds boss.
On the latest episode of our Journo Insight Extra Show, we asked Goal’s Neil Jones whether or not Dortmund may be open to selling Bellingham in the near future.
Neil said:
“I’d be amazed if he’s got less than 120 games under his belt, senior professional games, at his age. So, you’re buying a player that’s going to be available for – fitness permitting – 15 years, for your club. He’s going to cost an awful lot of money. If Sebastian Kehl says there’s no release clause, then that’s a big, big fillip for Dortmund, because they’ve obviously had that problem in the past.
They’re probably going to have it with Haaland next summer, it will be a difficult one to get him [Bellingham] out next summer because of the Haaland situation, and the fact that it looks very likely that he’ll go somewhere. I’m not sure they’re going to completely rip up their entire squad in the same summer, but Liverpool would like to be in that conversation, as would most of their rivals.”
Redmen Reacts
Jude Bellingham was so well thought of at Birmingham City that club retired his shirt number after his move to Dortmund in 2020. He also clearly has the backing of Gareth Southgate, impressing him enough to earn a slot in England’s Euro 2020 squad ahead of more established Premier League players such as James Ward-Prowse and Jesse Lingard. Bellingham clearly has talent, and if things go his way, he could end up one of the best midfielders in Europe.
Dortmund have acted as a ‘finishing school’ of sorts for some of the world’s best young players, looking to develop them and then cash in on them further down the line, so the likelihood is they will be receptive to a deal. The issue for Liverpool is that Bellingham’s value only seems to be increasing. The question is whether or not FSG will consider paying over €100 million for a teenager, as Atletico Madrid did for Joao Felix.
Subscribe to Redmen Plus for access to hours and hours of content including exclusive interviews, feature length documentaries and pre and post-match analysis on every Liverpool game!
