chelsea (opens in a new tab)Hopes of signing Jude Bellingham may have taken a major hit, with Real Madrid (opens in a new tab) would be ready to meet Borussia Dortmund (opens in a new tab)asking price of nearly £90m.
The Blues continue to be linked with Bellingham, 19, who is also reportedly of interest to Liverpool (opens in a new tab) and Manchester City (opens in a new tab). One club that won’t budge, however, is Bayern Munich. (opens in a new tab)whose CEO Oliver Kahn ruled them out of the race for England (opens in a new tab) midfield at the start of the week.
But Real would seem to be leading this race. According MARK (opens in a new tab)the Spanish giants have been discussing a deal for 12 months.
The report adds that Bellingham’s €100m (£87.9m) valuation is within Real’s price range (no surprise, is it?) and that the discussions have “passed to the stage of speaking figures”.
Bellingham joined Dortmund from boyhood club Birmingham City (opens in a new tab) in July 2020 at the age of 17, for a reported an initial fee of £22.75m (opens in a new tab). He recently made 100 appearances for the Blacks and Yellows, for whom he scored 14 goals.
Last weekend’s Bundesliga loss to Cologne saw the Bellingham Dortmund captain for the first time, an experience he describe (opens in a new tab) as “a dream come true”.
He also wore the armband in Wednesday’s 4-1 Champions League win at Sevilla. (opens in a new tab) (during which he scored his team’s second goal), becoming the youngest English player to start a Champions League game as skipper.
Next up for Bellingham and Dortmund is Saturday’s small business The Klassiker at home against Bayern.
It’s the first of 10 games for BVB between now and the World Cup, where, assuming he stays fit, Bellingham looks set to start – and play – for Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions.
More Chelsea Stories
Could Bellingham’s England midfield partner be on his way to Stamford Bridge next year? Chelsea reportedly make long-term target Declan Rice their top 2023 transfer target (opens in a new tab).
Meanwhile, it’s been reported that the Blues are at the top of the queue to sign AC Milan and Portuguese striker Rafael Leao. (opens in a new tab) and that they have already made an acceptable offer to RB Leipzig striker Christopher Nkunku (opens in a new tab).
In other news, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has described how he finds it ‘strange’ not to play under Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea – after the German was sacked last month (opens in a new tab).
