At just 19 years old, Jude Bellingham is an indispensable regular at Borussia Dortmund. In order to guide the central midfielder to the Ruhr area, BVB had to prevail against prominent competitors in 2020. FC Bayern was probably also after the shooting star at the time.
Two and a half years ago, Borussia Dortmund transferred around 25 million euros to Birmingham City to secure the services of Jude Bellingham. A proud amount, as the midfielder had “only” played for the English second division team up to that point. But the transfer should pay off in full for BVB.
The signing was a difficult undertaking for the Black and Yellows, former Birmingham City CEO Xuandong Ren has now revealed to Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo.
“Manchester United made the biggest offer compared to everyone else. Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Leicester City or smaller clubs like Wolves, they all called,” Ren revealed in an interview with the paper. Chelsea also made representations to Bellingham, but the youngster decided to join BVB three games before the end of the 2019/20 season.
BVB instead of FC Bayern
According to Ren, FC Bayern still wanted to slide their Bundesliga competitor in between. “The day he wanted to sign for Dortmund, I got a call from his father asking me to postpone the signing. Bayern tried to increase the offer at the last minute. They offered him so much money,” he said the ex-Birmingham City official. But money was “never a priority” for Bellingham.
The former companion is enthusiastic about the character of the BVB star. “He chose Dortmund and not Bayern, even though he might not win trophies or not make as much money. He put his development above everything else. How many players would do that?” asked Ren.
The England international will have to make another difficult decision next summer. Although his contract with BVB runs until 2025, the top international clubs have long been queuing up. According to Ren, once the season is over, Bellingham’s primary focus will once again be on the project and not the money.