At FC Bayern, Jude Bellingham (right) would have liked to see him in the red, not the black and yellow jersey.Image: IMAGO/Team 2
When Dortmund’s Jew Bellingham played for his youth club Birmingham City at the tender age of 17, everyone knew what an exceptional talent he was. A second division season among professionals was enough to turn the heads of all the top clubs in Europe.
Ultimately, Borussia Dortmund was awarded the contract. The Briton moved to the Ruhr area in 2020 for a fee of 25 million euros. It was also clear to those responsible for the club in Birmingham that they were letting a future world star go. It quickly became clear that Bellingham’s jersey number 22 would no longer be awarded.
Jude Bellingham is already legendary in Birmingham. Image: www.imago-images.de / John Patrick Fletcher
In the tug-of-war for the mega talent, BVB prevailed against extremely well-known competition. Bellingham is said to have had offers from almost all Premier League clubs and Bayern Munich at the time.
Dortmund project most attractive for Bellingham
In the end, however, he decided against the money – which he undoubtedly would have earned significantly more from in the Premier League or at FC Bayern – and for the Borussia Dortmund project. The black and yellow have earned a reputation in Europe for relying on young, talented players and reliably shaping them into real world stars.
When Bellingham’s transfer to BVB became apparent, the German record champions FC Bayern did not like it at all, reports Birmingham’s then managing director Xuandong Ren to the Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo.
”The day he was about to sign for Dortmund, I got a call from his father asking me to postpone the signing,” reports Ren. “Bayern tried to increase the offer at the last minute. They offered him so much money.”
But Manchester United put the most on the table by far, says the Chinese entrepreneur. Club legends Sir Alex Ferguson and Eric Cantona personally tried to persuade Bellingham to move to Manchester.
Ren has thesis on upcoming Bellingham transfer
For the young player, however, the sporting perspective has always been more important than the financial reward, says Ren. Ultimately, that was the deciding factor for Dortmund. The ex-functionary believes that he can also derive a prognosis for the future from this: “The decision he will make in the summer will depend on the project, not the money.”
Most recently, Niklas Stark made the move from Hertha BSC to Werder Bremen. In the summer, the central defender moved to the Weser on a free transfer and, after initial difficulties at the start, prevailed in Bremen. The 27-year-old was in the starting XI in six of the last eight league games before the World Cup break.
