Borussia Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl has reiterated that there is no offer on the table for Jude Bellingham amid suggestions he is close to signing for Real Madrid.
The 19-year-old was involved in intense speculation over a move to Liverpool as the Reds highlighted the Englishman as one of their key targets after monitoring the youngster.
Their scouting mission coincided with the Dortmund midfielder establishing himself as a key player at domestic and international level, taking the armband at Signal Iduna Park and becoming an indispensable member of Gareth Southgate's England squad.
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Liverpool are set for a spending spree in the summer which will see them target midfield as an area for much-needed improvement. For many, Bellingham was seen as an integral part of the rebuild for Jurgen Klopp's side.
However, the Reds decided their money would be better spent spread across targets rather than on one target. Reports suggest Bellingham could cost north of £140m and one of the teams now deemed front-runners are Real Madrid.
However, the former Dortmund midfielder insists that there is no offer on the table and the Black-Yellows want to retain their key assets.
"We will try everything [to keep Jude Bellingham] because we're very ambitious, we want to keep the best players in our squad in this team and our club to perform," Kehl told ESPN. "But to come back to Jude, there's nothing to decide at the moment, there's nothing on the table, no offer, no news.
"Jude is very focused on the next game, next weeks then we will decide how it develops.
"I know how the business is. In the end, you have to react to that specific situation," he added on the prospect of a world-record bid for Bellingham.
"There's no guidelines, no description on what to do and not to do. We have to take everything into consideration, we are still coming [back] from COVID €150m is a lot of money [that] we lost in the past. I fight for the team, [fight for] the best players and Jude is one of them, we'll see how this works."
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