Not for the first time in his career, Jude Bellingham is faced with a huge decision as he considers the next move in his career.
The 19-year-old appears to have the pick of Europe’s top clubs after further enhancing his reputation at the World Cup, shining as England reached the quarter-finals in Qatar.
It looks increasingly likely that he will leave Borussia Dortmund in the near future, potentially in the summer, and reports suggest that it is Liverpool leading the race for Bellingham’s signature.
Manchester United will be among those in the hunt too, as they were when the teenager left Birmingham two years ago.
While Bellingham eventually opted to move to Germany, a decision that has certainly worked out, United pushed to bring the midfielder to Old Trafford.
Former Birmingham City CEO Xuandong Ren has revealed Sir Alex Ferguson was among those involved in attempting to persaude Bellingham to make the move to Manchester.
“Manchester United offered twice as much as the rest of the clubs, they even brought him together with Ferguson, Cantona and Solskjaer to convince him,” he told Mundo Deportivo. “But Jude did not make any decision based on money.
“They were offering much more salary compared to the rest. Maybe double. He was going to be guaranteed millions in the bank and he didn’t take it. That’s not normal for a player at all.
“I could only act as Birmingham’s CEO. I could say to him Jude, Manchester United are offering you three times what we are offering, you have to go.
“And it was a difficult position, because I wanted to respect his decision. At the time he could have gone for free, and we wouldn’t see any money. And our promise was that we would let them make the decision because of the loyalty they showed us.”
