Borussia Dortmund currently seems to be the hub of producing the ‘next best thing’ in European football. Over the last decade or so, they have been the club to give the platform for some of the best players in the world.
What started with Robert Lewandowski leaving them in 2014 as a free agent has seen them spot and give rise to some amazing players over the years.
Most recently, the German side gave the spotlight to one Erling Haaland – who scored 86 goals and provided 23 assists in 89 appearances for them.
The Bundesliga side were able to sell Haaland for around £51.2m – three times the price they had signed him for in 2020 from RB Salzburg.
While they try hard to shove aside the reputation of becoming a ‘seller club’, it’s hard to do when their talented youngsters push to seek major transfers for themselves.
Unfortunately for Dortmund, this selling spree might not be over yet. They also possess another future diamond among their ranks – who is attracting a lot of attention from some of Europe’s biggest clubs.
That player in the question is none other than Jude Bellingham, who has been operating at a whole new level this season.
Bellingham has scored 8 goals and provided 2 assists in 18 appearances for the Bundesliga side this season, ranking some of the highest goal-scoring stats for a midfielder in Europe’s top-5 leagues.
He has catapulted himself to the front of the line among the midfielders likely to be included in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the Qatar World Cup.
But beyond that, a lot is lying await on the horizon for young Bellingham. The 19-year-old has a lot of options to choose from in the future and a host of clubs he could potentially join after this season is over.
One of those clubs is Manchester City, whom his side was able to hold to a goalless draw in the Champions League earlier this week.
Indeed, the Citizens are playing a move for the teenager – whom they want to reunite with Haaland at the Etihad Stadium.
It also appears that Pep Guardiola might have instructed some of the England international players in his squad – like Jack Grealish – to start tempting him to join them.
After the game at the Signal Iduna Park, Grealish caught up with his England teammate on the touchline.
Someone recorded their entire interaction and caught up with exactly what the two were up to. It seemed like Jack told Bellingham ‘Pep wants to see you inside’ before racing past him.
Bellingham looked a bit confused by that before walking to the back after greeting some of the fans in the stands. It looks like Guardiola might have spoken to the English midfielder to convince him to buy into his project at City and join them over any other club next summer.
However, that would be difficult to do because some other heavyweights are also in the race to sign him.
Real Madrid, for one, are strongly competing for Bellingham’s signing and wants him as Toni Kroos’ long-term replacement.
That’s why some fans are refusing to buy into the prospect of seeing Bellingham join City next summer, while fans of the Manchester side are speculating exciting things in the future.
