Jude Bellingham's former Birmingham City coach believes his next career move will be a "football decision" as links to Liverpool continue to intensify.
Mike Dodds, who oversaw Bellingham's rise from a seven-year-old in the Birmingham academy right through to their first team, says the Liverpool transfer target will make a strategic and long-term decision about what he does at the end of the season.
Jurgen Klopp is a known admirer of the Borussia Dortmund teenager and the Reds have been repeatedly linked with a move, with reports emerging from Germany this week that Klopp's side are leading the race to sign the £100m-rated teenager.
READ MORE: Naby Keita boost and three other things spotted at Liverpool training in Dubai
READ MORE: When Darwin Nunez will return for Liverpool as World Cup absences await
Dodds, who now works at Sunderland, reckons Bellingham's choice won't be motivated by how much he can earn and instead says the 19-year-old's plan will be well thought out by him and his parents.
"When he left Birmingham, he had a lot of choices and he had a lot of decisions [to make] and the decision he made was a footballing decision," Dodds told Sky Sports News.
"Now whether he decides to stay in Germany or whether he decides to move back to England or whatever club, that decision will be a football decision, it won't be a financial decision. It won't be an egotistical decision, if that's the right phrase to use?
"Whatever decision he makes, it will be calculated, it will be really well thought out. He will think about all the pros and cons and he'll make the best decision for what is the next stage of his career."
A report from SportBILD in Germany this week claimed Bellingham 's parents, Mark and Denise, would prefer their son to choose Liverpool over Real Madrid next summer, although Dortmund are reluctant to lose their star man without a fight having seen Erling Haaland's £51m release clause triggered by Manchester City earlier this year.
Any move for the England international would almost certainly be a club-record one at Anfield with Virgil van Dijk's £75m switch from Southampton nearly five years ago still holding that particular accolade. Darwin Nunez arrived in the summer for an initial fee of £64m from Benfica and the Uruguay forward may eventually cost Liverpool £85m if all his add-ons are unlocked.
Bellingham, however, is being tipped for a move worth at least £100m next summer, despite Dortmund's desire to keep him in the Bundesliga.
Dodds, who now works at Sunderland, added: "I've said this to quite a few people, Jude's had a real upward trajectory in terms of leaving Birmingham, going to Borussia Dortmund and now the World Cup tournament and he hasn't really made many mistakes.
"I think when those mistakes do come because he is still such a young man, you know, how do we support him as a nation? How do we support him from a media perspective? Because if we get those junctions right and we support him in the right way, I think you've got one of the best players in world football in my personal opinion.
"But there's still going to be so many challenges and hurdles he needs to get over to get to that point. He's still only 19, he's still a teenager and he's not 20 until June. But, you know, the performances alone, regardless of age, his performances alone would suggest that he's on that trajectory to become one of the best.
"[I'm] massively proud but also not surprised. Every hurdle that seems to come in his way he demolishes it, so massively proud but not overly surprised if I am honest. He was seven [when I first coached him] and I know everyone says how young he is at the World Cup so that makes me feel really old to be honest with you!
"He was seven and a talented boy. Would I have predicted at that age he'd go on and achieve what's he's achieved so far, definitely not, but he was a talented boy who loved football and like most seven-year-olds, he ran around with a smile on his face.
"Off the pitch, he's so relaxed and a calm character and what you see on camera is how he is but when he steps over that line he wants to be the very best. He was like that as a young boy. He would always let you know when he was unhappy and he wanted to be the best at everything he turned his hand to."
READ NEXT:
- FSG facing pressure in Boston as Liverpool sale talk heats up
- Liverpool £5.5m signing was called a 't**' by Steven Gerrard but become Champions League hero
- Simon Jordan claims key detail in Jude Bellingham transfer could cause huge problem for Liverpool
- Harvey Elliott makes Liverpool 'flying' training claim and hails positive impact of team-mate
- What David Beckham told Trent Alexander-Arnold as England talk caught on camera
