Borussia Dortmund star has been linked with summer move to Manchester
Prior to the first ever winter World Cup out in Qatar starting, former Birmingham City Academy graduate and now Borussia Dortmund regular, Jude Bellingham, was making great progress in his development and attracting quite a fair bit of attention.
Many in the media and on the transfer rumour mill felt that should the 19 year old have a good World Cup campaign for England and manager Gareth Southgate it would simply intensify the transfer speculation in his future, as he was already being talked about as being in the £100 million valuation mark and a supposed target for the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Real Madrid and even Barcelona have been mentioned. Former England international Trevor Sinclair agrees given a recent interview he held with Betway Insider.
Well, with the World Cup well underway now and Bellingham having played his part in helping Southgate's side to progress through to the knockout stages of the tournament having topped Group B with victories over Iran and Wales, as well as a draw with the United States, England are through to the Quarter Finals of the 2022 competition having taken a good 3-0 win over Senegal.
Now, it is time for current World Cup holders France in the Quarter Finals and I think everyone would just like to avoid penalties playing a part to be fair, as everyone knows it will be an incredibly tough game.
As for Bellingham, Sinclair explained in his interview that he felt someone would make a move for him in January and that would only intensify things ahead of the summer window.
"Yeah, very soon. I think he’ll stay in January. Borussia Dortmund tend to stick strong and do their business when they can get the best fee possible in the summer market. But in the summer, I do expect a £150-175m kind of fee to be spent on him."
Addressing the club Sinclair expected to be in for Bellingham, he went on to say that Pep Guardiola's City would likely be favourites - especially on the money front as there is some talk already of Jack Grealish moving on as he has failed to hit the heights of his form for Aston Villa.
"Barcelona, I’m not so sure, because they already have Gavi and Pedri in those positions, but virtually every other massive club will want him. Real Madrid, for sure, and Liverpool, who have been heavily linked. He obviously has that great relationship with Jordan Henderson, which might give them an advantage. But you look at Man City, where there might be some movement out in midfield this summer, and I think he could slot into that team really well. Pep knows what he wants from his players technically and tactically, he knows how he wants his players to play, and I think Bellingham brings everything that he would want. He’s got defensive qualities, he’s got that passing range and he’s got the ability to get all over the pitch. I can see him at City, for sure."
Bellingham would certainly thrive under Guardiola given what we have already seen of the 19 year old, but even for City, it would take some departures to free up that kind of future investment.