Borussia Dortmund manager Edin Terzic has urged Jude Bellingham to “break the mould” and reject the approaches of Real Madrid and Liverpool to stay with the German giants.
Bellingham is being courted by Los Blancos and Liverpool, while Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea are also interested in the 19-year-old midfielder. He is very unlikely to leave Dortmund in the January transfer window, but speculation over his future continues to build up ahead of a pivotal summer.
The England international is to hold crunch talks with Dortmund ahead of the restart of German football following the winter break. He has reportedly indicated to his employers that he prefers the option of joining Real Madrid over Liverpool, who are ninth in the Premier League and struggling.
Dortmund have sold Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland over the past two summers, but Terzic does not believe Bellingham following them is inevitable. The 40-year-old wants his star midfielder to look at the examples of Marco Reus or Lukasz Piszczek, who rejected transfers to stay and become club legends at Dortmund.
“I believe that we need to work on keeping these young guys one year longer,” Terzic told The Athletic. “In my first season [as interim manager], I was able to put Jadon, Jude and Erling on the pitch, but that was their only year together.
“That was also partly due to COVID-19 and empty stadiums, there were financial considerations. But if we can get to the point where it’s two or three years of such a trio, maybe we can break the mould.”
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Bellingham was recently rated as the most valuable teenager in world football and Dortmund are in no rush to sell him. He is under contract until June 2025 with the German club, who remain bullish in their stance.
"Jude has made an incredible development here," sporting director Sebastian Kehl recently told German outlet Kicker. "With the way he plays football, his fighting spirit and his commitment, he has become a real Borussia player who identifies very much with BVB.
"I can’t say today if and when that will be the case with Jude, and from a purely sporting point of view I would be stupid to want to give up Jude Bellingham. We’ll talk to him and his parents in due course. There is currently no pressure.
"Jude wants to concentrate fully on football and, by the way, there are no offers at all."
Bellingham also remains focused on Dortmund. "The club have done loads for me and made me feel very welcome since I first came and gave me the opportunities to develop even further," he said earlier this season when asked about his future.
"To look past that and into the future would be disrespectful. It's not something I am thinking about, to be honest."
