Jude Bellingham has become one of the most sought after names in world football, with a host of Europe's biggest clubs circling for the Borussia Dortmund midfielder.
Bellingham has been heavily linked with a move back to England having joined Dortmund from Birmingham City in 2020, with Premier League sides Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United all keeping tabs on the 19-year-old.
Here is the latest news surrounding a potential transfer for Bellingham:
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Manchester United renew interest
According to the Mirror, Manchester United have joined the list of clubs who could be looking to sign the 19-year-old who is subject to interest from Chelsea. This is part of a list of clubs which includes Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid, who are all reported to be eyeing the Birmingham City academy graduate.
United were close to bringing the star to Old Trafford two years ago, but instead he chose Borussia Dortmund where he has been a revelation. The 19-year-old has been in inspired form so far this campaign, scoring four goals to help his club progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
However, The Guardian's Jonathan Liew has revealed on Sky Sports News that United look well placed on the pitch to renew their interest in the England star after their failed move in 2020 but questioned whether their ability to make such a move after their failure to secure a deal for Frenkie de Jong in the summer..
He explained the move, saying: "Famously, they tried to sign him, (Sir) Alex Ferguson gave him a personal tour of the ground and then he went and joined Borussia Dortmund, which I guess was something of a snub."
He continued: "What's changed is that they look like a functioning team on the pitch and that's the operative phrase 'on the pitch'. They obviously look a lot better under Erik ten Hag and look like they want to have a midfield but what we don't know is whether the off the field, backroom operation has improved.
"United have actually been pretty shambolic in the transfer market for quite a few years now. Even last summer, with the pursuit of Frenkie de Jong which turned into a bit of a fiasco in the end and getting these big transfers over the line is really hard."
"It's fine signing someone from Ajax where there's not much competition, but trying to sign Bellingham - that is a really huge effort and whether the people behind the scenes at united are able to get that over the line, that is going to be the big question."
The move to sign Bellingham could present difficulties for Chelsea given the competitiveness in the market, but given that they were competing with Chelsea for de Jong, there are suggestions that United's interest in the former could clear the way for Chelsea to swoop for de Jong as an alternative.
Record fee revealed
Any move to sign Bellingham could see Chelsea cough up a staggering €150 million (£128 million), with BILD in Germany reporting that Liverpool would be unable to match the asking price should they seek to sign the midfielder who is set to star at the World Cup this summer.
This means that any move that would be made would shatter the £100 million which Manchester City paid to sign Jack Grealish from Aston Villa last summer. However, Chelsea under Todd Boehly have shown willing this summer in terms of shelling out large sums of money to sign players and could be well placed to make such a deal happen.
For Boehly and Clearlake Capital, Bellingham is one of several new midfield targets in their plans for an overhaul next year. The Blues could lose Jorginho and N'Golo Kante for free and already have depleted options in the middle of the park, having not signed a player permanently in that position since 2018.
They are most likely to face competition from teams such as Real Madrid and City, with the latter in particular showing themselves to have almost unlimited funds to sign players.
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