Greats of Europe note: This is why Bellingham chose Dortmund in 2020

Jude Bellingham He is one of the men of the moment. His name is heard every day by all the sports media and it is the big clubs in Europe who are fighting to sign the pearl of Borussia Dortmundwho at the age of 19 is already one of the best players on the planet in his position. Liverpool Y Madrid They seem like the best place right now to sign it, but money alone won’t convince bellingham because the player puts his sporting interests first.

This is how he explained Dong Ren, former CEO of Birmingham City between 2017 and 2020, at Mundo Deportivo. The precedent is clear. Bellingham decided to sign in 2020 for Borussia Dortmund despite having the entire Premier League behind him, as well as the rest of Europe’s best, because he considers it the best place to develop as a footballer.

“Making a decision is very important,” Dong Ren explained, just beginning to reveal that “United made the biggest offer we received compared to Bayern, Dortmund, Leicester or other clubs like Wolves. They all called.”.

The insistence of the ‘red devils’ is not a simple offer. He was very clear united What bellinghamthat this season he went from starting the first five games without being called up to becoming a great Championship sensation at the age of just 16, breaking all records, that Jude would be a vintage player who tried the all. “Ed Woodward (then United CEO) was the most demanding. We sat down and talked about how we could convince Bellingham. But Jude didn’t make any decisions based on money. They offered more salary compared to others. Both are double. He would have guaranteed millions in the bank and he didn’t take it. That’s not normal for a player,” began Birmingham’s former CEO, recounting how “He sat with Solskjaer, until Woodward brought Ferguson that day, another day in Cantona, to try to convince him”.

They’re not the only ones. He likes it too Chelsea, who put in a lot of effort to get the young midfielder. “He went to Stamford Bridge to meet Chelsea. With Marina Granovskaia in person. They had a meeting arranged by Frank Lampard. He showed her his plan. But he was not convinced either.. Before the last three games of the season, he decided on Dortmund. They told us they wanted to go as a player and as a family,” Dong Ren said.

And how is this possible? How many 16-year-old players have turned down millions of offers? “Your family is something very special. Not because of soccer, because his father played semi-professionally. They helped their son. I can’t respect them anymore. They let Bellingham decide“, said Dong Ren, who lived it directly but “at the end of the day, we are the team with the player. He can only act as CEO of Birmingham. Jude could have told him, Manchester United are offering you three times what we have, you have to leave. And it’s a difficult position, because I want to respect his decision. At the time he could have left for free and we found no money. And our promise is that we will let them decide because of the loyalty they have shown us.”.

And on signing day in Dortmund, Bayern tried hard

Bellingham decided. I would have signed him Borussia Dortmund. This being the year of the pandemic, he spent the three months of ‘lockdown’ talking to the Germans, in addition to many other teams, including Bayern Munichwhich at the last moment wants to tie the player.

“Until the last day, when he signed for Dortmund, I received a call from his father asking me to wait to sign the transfer. Bayern are trying to raise the offer at the last minute. He offered a lot of money as a bonus to the player.”discovered Dong Ren, insisting that “however Bellingham did not put money first” and insisting that “the decision he will make next summer will be based on the project, not money.”

His signing for him could not have been better Borussia Dortmund. He chose a place where they considered young players and gave him enough importance and minutes to continue growing as a footballer to such an extent that a record transfer in the history of the club is now being discussed. “His progress is incredible. Since his arrival at Dortmund, he has raised his game to another level. He is a completely different player. And we haven’t seen his full potential yet.”he said proudly dong renwho will differentiate his case from the case of Jadon Sancho, who also decided on Dortmund at the time, insisted that “they are different cases. Jude has the possibility to choose all the clubs in England and Jadon left because City doesn’t have him. . Many English players don’t come out because financially the league is the most powerful. I’m not saying that other players put money first, but it’s very difficult to refuse. That’s why I give so much credit to Bellingham. He chose Dortmund over Bayern despite not being sure of winning titles and money. He put all of that behind his progress. How many players will do this? Because nothing is guaranteed in Dortmund. Maybe it wasn’t good”.

He risked his signing for Dortmund to play against Charlton for relegation

To really know what kind of footballer and person he is Jude Bellingham, dong ren He tells an anecdote that speaks very clearly about what a footballer is and to what degree his commitment to football comes before anything else.

That season, his last at BirminghamBellingham already had an agreement with Borussia Dortmund there are three games to complete the Championship course. This is a season in which the English club is in danger in the category, because it has just come out of relegation but it has a game against Charlton, its direct rival, and Dong Ren, then CEO of BirminghamHe had to make the difficult decision to leave Jude out of the game because the next day he was undergoing a medical examination and he could not risk the transfer, for the player himself and for the economy of the club, because the transfer under of those conditions is an amazing injection. for a club with Birmingham qualities.

“When the league restarted, the transfer was almost done. But the medical check-up in Dortmund is scheduled for the day after the game against Charlton and everything will be closed after that. Imagine Wednesday morning when I say Pep Clotet (coach at the time) that Bellingham couldn’t play the game. He got it, he couldn’t summon it. His career is at stake and the transfer is especially important for us, especially because of the consequences of the pandemic”, Dong Ren introduced.

The decision is logical. A Championship club does not usually receive 25 million euros every day and that has served as a lifeline for them. This is for all but Bellingham. “Clotet didn’t call him and an hour and a half later his father called me. He told me that they understand my decision, but Jude wants to play because the team is fighting not to be relegated.. Direct rivals Charlton, three points separate us. If we lose, we’re in serious trouble,” anticipates Dong Ren, who goes on to explain that “I told him, ‘look Mark, I can’t risk everything. You can’t imagine all the hard work we’ve put in all these years. This is the last step of the process. One bad entry and everything goes to hell’. And his father is clear: “He will cancel the medical check-up if necessary to play.” A 16-year-old boy, mind you. It is said that he will cancel the medical examination to play the match.”

“I told him ‘Mark, please. You’re putting me in a situation I don’t want to be in. We’ll call him, but he’s on the bench. We have to trust the rest of the players, we’ll try to win with them. If necessary this is the team, we will use it”, reveals that this is how the conversation ended.

That’s how it was, the game of Charlton Y bellinghamthat tomorrow he will close his transfer of Borussia Dortmund and to make the leap to the elite, he was on the bench, but as if it was the end of a movie that he wouldn’t last long here. “We started without him, we were trailing at half-time by one goal. We were in relegation at the time, Charlton went ahead of us. Jude entered in the second half, I gave the thumbs up. We’re going to give him a chance to save the team, and that’s it. He came in and did nothing to help the equalizing goal. That season we didn’t manage any points and Charlton ended up relegated. Impossible to imagine that script. One day a movie might be made about Bellingham. Everything about him is amazing.”